Systems and methods employing unique device for generating random signals and metering and addressing, e.g., unusual deviations in said random signals

ABSTRACT

According to some embodiments, a system comprises a generator of a truly random signal is connected to an input and feedback device for the purpose of providing a user with real time feedback on the random signal. The user observes a representation of the signal in the process of an external physical event for the purpose of finding a correlation between the random output and what happens during the physical event. In some examples, the system is preferably designed such the system is shielded from all classically known forces such as gravity, physical pressure, motion, electromagnetic fields, humidity, etc. and/or, such classical forces are factored out of the process as much as possible. The system is thus designed to be selectively response to signals from living creatures, in particular, humans.

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 to each ofand is a non-provisional of each of the following prior provisionalapplications, the entire disclosures of which are all incorporatedherein by reference as though recited herein in full: (1) U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/986,954, filed on Nov. 9, 2007(Valentino); (2) U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/012,434, filed onDec. 9, 2007 (Valentino); (3) U.S. Provisional Application No.61/014,941, filed on Dec. 19, 2007 (Valentino); (4) U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 61/037,439, filed on Mar. 18, 2008 (Valentino); and (5)U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/106,745, filed on Oct. 20, 2008(Valentino).

BACKGROUND 1. Princeton University's PEAR Laboratory

The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) Lab was founded in1979 by Robert G. Jahn, Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Dean ofthe School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University.An objective of the Lab was to study the ability of consciousness toinfluence physical processes. The lab was managed by Brenda Dunne, adevelopmental psychologist trained at the University of Chicago, and hada full-time staff of half a dozen scientists as well as numerous internsand visiting researchers. During its 28-year history, the lab worked tostudy and understand the anomalous impact that the mind seemed to haveon physical devices, including electronic random event generators(REGs). Among other things, Princeton's PEAR laboratory discovered somebasic principles as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,064 related totheorized potential control an individual may have over his environmentand how to effect such control.

For reference, said '064 patent describes its historical background asfollows:

“Many types of experiments and devices utilize random-event generatorsor random-number generators. Such generators include true-random-numbergenerators (that generate truly random numbers) and pseudo-random-numbergenerators (those devices and computer programs that generatepseudo-random numbers, which are seemingly random numbers, but which inactuality are more or less deterministic). Pseudo-random numbergenerators can include devices or programs that generate a complexsequence of numbers that are based on a “seed,” and that, given oneparticular seed, will generate the same sequence of pseudo-randomnumbers. Between true- and pseudo-random-number generators are“biased-true-random-number generators,” that generate a biased sequenceof random numbers, wherein the bias is due to perhaps some environmentalfactor, such as electrical or magnetic fields, temperature, voltage,circuit drift, or some other factor or field.

In attempts to produce true-random-number generators, researchers haveattempted to remove or minimize causes of bias in the random numbersequences generated. Unbiased random numbers are useful in a number ofexperimental and applied sciences. In the past, such attempts haveresulted in expensive and highly sophisticated electronic circuits,which have been large, non-portable, complex, and difficult tointerface.

A number of years of experiments at the PEAR Lab using a highlysophisticated microelectronic random event generator have demonstratedcorrelation of certain mean shifts of the output function with thestated intentions of operators physically isolated from the apparatus,compounding to a high level of statistical significance. Although themechanism by which probabilities are affected is still not understood,the phenomenon has been well documented and results published inrespected and refereed scientific journals, as well as the book Marginsof Reality, The Role of Consciousness in the Physical World, by RobertG. Jahn and Brenda J. Dunne, Harcourt Brace and Company, 1987. Theinvention to be described is concerned with the reduction to practice ofthe laboratory instrument, yielding practical devices which may be massproduced economically and operated in the field. Additionally, itdefines various implementations of the technology and the applicationsto which they may be put.

Much effort has been devoted over history by inventors, scientists andeven gamblers and sports figures to effect some degree of control overautonomous physical objects and systems above and beyond the use ofmuscular contraction and extension. For example, some golfers “ooch”their putts towards the cup even after the ball leaves the club face.Slot machine players look to winning strategies. The Air Force hasinvested millions in research to produce systems which enable fighterpilots to operate their cockpit displays and guns without removing theirhands from the flight controls. Clearly a form of control over one'senvironment which emanates from the mind alone, unfettered by the needfor physical contact, is something long sought, and has provided thetheme for numerous science-fiction scenarios. It offers a challenge tothe scientific mind, and has long been a subject of fascination to thepublic in general.

Game devices, such as self-powered toy vehicles or computer video games,often have user-input control devices, such as joystick controllers,keyboards, trackballs, or “mice” which translate manual movements of ahuman operator (e.g., hand or finger movements) into control signals formoving or controlling operation of the toy or game. Each of theseuser-input control devices requires some muscular movement by the user.Thus, a device that responded to human intention from a human withoutany direct connection, and could “read” the thoughts or intentions ofthe human in order to control some device, has been dreamt of, but neverrealized.

2. Psyleron, Inc.

Psyleron, Inc. was founded by individuals formerly working within and/oraffiliated with the PEAR Lab and in close cooperation with foundingmembers of the PEAR Lab, so as to further continue and expand beyond theoriginal research initiated by the PEAR lab. Among other things,Psyleron's research is focused on better understanding how physicalreality is affected by consciousness and/or other paranormal factors.Here, the terminology paranormal is used herein as a general term thatdescribes unusual phenomena that lack a well-accepted scientificexplanation. Here, paranormal should not be misinterpreted to encompasscommon mis-conceptions or assumptions, but rather to broadly encompassall extra-physical phenomena that may not currently be understood orthat may only be partly understood within the scientific community. Inthis use of the term, many paranormal or extra-physical phenomenainvolve well understood results with limited understanding of theunderlying cause, such as, e.g., the well known result that a person'spositive attitude can affect their health in a positive way, while thereare no currently uniformly accepted reasons therefor. Nevertheless, thefact that one's subjective mental state can affect their health ismeasurable and quantifiable vis-á-vis experiments which compare acontrol group not exhibiting the subjective behaviors in question withanother group that expresses hope, motivation, enthusiasm or other“soft” factors relating to general well-being. From this, more acceptedconcept, there is a range of illustrative examples, ranging from thewidely accepted to the very-limitedly accepted—by way of example, alarge percentage of the population, worldwide, believe in some form ofability to engage in prayer to seek to impart some sort of change, andscientists writing established medical journals such as “Explore: TheJournal of Science and Healing” have in some instances found resultssuggesting improvements due to prayer whose mechanisms are not yetexplicable in classical scientific terms.

Here, Psyleron, Inc. has performed many studies in which certainparanormal or extra-physical results have been shown to occur.Recognizing, from a scientific perspective, that our scientificcommunity does not have a well understood basis to explain suchextra-physical results, Psyleron, Inc. can identify that such resultsrelate, in short to, properties of consciousness (e.g. “mood,”“feelings,” “intention,” “attitude,”), subjectivity (e.g. “beauty,”“appreciation,” “resonance,”) and properties of interpersonal orenvironmental dynamics (e.g. “feeling connected,” “being in the zone,”“being on the same page”) and that the scientific principles andconcepts necessary to convey such processes may involve premises whichare still being understood and are not yet a part of the wellestablished nomenclature in any field. Furthermore, these explanationsmay involve premises ranging from those which may be generally acceptedwithin the scientific community (e.g., that the phenomena in questioneminate from yet unknown chemical, physical or biological origins), tothose which may be less accepted in scientific principal yet which havea place in the common literature (e.g. resultant from a religious orspiritual process, due to God or some deity, resultant, resultant fromone's own will-power, resultant from “Chi” (as in the Eastern MedicalSense), or from some other form of “energy” that is yet to be capturedand well understood by conventional science), or a variety of yet otherexplanations. In short, the terminology extra-physical phenomena is usedherein to identify unknown causal interrelationships outside of what iscurrently well known physical causes (e.g, Newtonian physics, heattransfer, gravity, magnetism, electricity or the like), but such couldalso involve yet not understood aspects or relationships related to suchproperties (e.g, such as how gravity is not understood and there existmany scientific theories relating to how the force of gravity createsits effects).

Another way to appreciate this is to note that extra-physical factors,in many instances appear to be related to human intention, mood, statesof mind, and/or the like, but are not yet widely understood by science.These can also be understood to include anomalous phenomena, which hasbeen defined as a phenomenon or class of phenomena which appear to bereal on the basis of empirical data, study, and well-controlled goodfaith inquiries into the nature of the physical world, but which is notyet account for, fully explained, well understood, classified, oraccepted in the current/mainstream body of scientific knowledge. Anexample of such phenomena would be the quantization of charge seen indata relating to the photo-electric effect, or the problem black bodyradiation not behaving according to the expectations and knowledge ofclassical physics in the early 20^(th) century. In both cases, empiricalmeasurements of a phenomenon predated any known physical cause, but theexistence of such empirical anomalies eventually to led the developmentof entire fields of science such as quantum mechanics and solid statephysics, which ultimately led to thousands of future innovations.

While the original PEAR Lab and other's following in this general fieldhave focused upon the degree by which one may be able to consciouslycontrol their external environment, the present inventors at Psyleron,Inc. have taken a different direction and have developed a variety ofunique and highly usable and beneficial systems and methods based onthis different direction. In particular, rather than focusing merely onthe potential that one's consciousness may be able to control externalmatters and to strive for an extreme goal of creating control devices orthe like, the present inventors have appreciated other applications anduses in relation to evaluation (e.g., metering, including, e.g., makinga measurement from a device in order to come to a conclusion or ideaabout something in the environment) of nuances in random eventgeneration anomalies and the like and the surrounding circumstancesrelated thereto. Thus, rather than focusing solely on using theprinciple that one's mind may be able to control devices and to createsdevices based on that principle, the present inventors have focused on,e.g., the principles that a) if there are in fact extra-physical orparanormal events (whether a user's consciousness and/or some otherevent) that may impact our environment, then a user can gain valuableinsight, appreciation and/or knowledge by observing such anomalies inrandom events and seeking to correlate them to an environmentaloccurrence.

To help the reader appreciate this notable distinction, FIG. 17 showsthe prior focus upon having a user seek to control a device, such as,e.g., an REG device or another external device (i.e., resulting in focuson action in the direction of the arrow 1 shown in FIG. 17). Incontrast, in many embodiments of the present inventors, the focus is notupon the user's control of a device, but on having a device identifyanomalies that may result from a variety of possible factors (such as,e.g., in the illustrative and non-limiting example shown in FIG. 18based on the user him/herself, based on a group of individuals orinter-relational situation (e.g., depicted as a plurality of circles),and/or based on another environmental phenomenon that may or may not beknown or appreciated), and having the device make the user aware of suchsituation (e.g., as a means to meter, identify, evaluate or observe,rather than to control, resulting in focus on action in the direction ofthe arrow 1 shown in FIG. 18). And, in some preferred embodimentsdescribed herein, this action also leads to facilitating identificationof other environmental factors and/or issues (such as, e.g., shown atthe arrow 2 in FIG. 18) that may have an impact on the operation orreading of the device. Thus, the device can serve to help the user toobtain a greater appreciation on events around him/her (i.e., resultingin evaluation, rather than control). It is noted that, among otherthings, Psyleron's well controlled experiments have demonstratednumerous results of this nature, such as, e.g., that when the REG isoperated during games where people are having fun, a result frequentlyoccurs, or when the REG is operated during a talk by a “charismaticspeaker,” an interesting result often occurs, while in various other,uninterested situations, such results do not often occur.

Among other things, as described herein-below, it is noted that thevarious embodiments herein do not rely on the paranormal phenomena forlegal utility under 35 U.S.C. 101, but that, by way of example, the merepossibility or theoretical potential or belief in a user thereof canalso achieve very valuable uses and benefits, from education, to helpingfocus attention, to amusement, to reminders, and more, as the readerwill appreciate based on this disclosure.

3. References

Each and every one of the disclosures of Nelson, R. D., Bradish, G. J.,Dobyns, Y. D., Dunne, B. J., Jahn, R. G., FieldREG Anomalies in GroupSituations (1996). J. Scientific Exploration, 10, No. 1, pp. 111-141,Nelson, R. D., Jahn, R. G., Dunne, B. J., Dobyns, Y. D., Bradish, G. J,FieldREGII: Consciousness Field Effects: Replications and Explorations(1998). J. Scientific Exploration, 12, No. 3, pp. 425-454, U.S. Pat. No.5,830,064, Bradish, et al., 1998, for an “Apparatus and method fordistinguishing events which collectively exceed chance expectations andthereby controlling an output”, U.S. Pat. No. 7,124,157, Ikake, 2006,for a “Random number generator”, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,369,727, Vincze,2002, for an “Analog-to-digital conversion method of random numbergeneration”, are incorporated herein by reference, in their entireties,as though recited in full.

SUMMARY

A system, in one embodiment, comprising a generator of a truly randomsignal connected to an input and feedback device for the purpose ofproviding a user with real time feedback on the random signal. The userobserves a representation of the signal in the process of an externalphysical event for the purpose of finding a correlation between therandom output and what happens during the physical event. The system, inanother embodiment enhances the ability of users to correlate theeffects of human consciousness with the output of random physicalprocesses. A third embodiment teaches the method and apparatus ofgenerating values, in particular to generating values that areinfluenced by human consciousness, and detecting whether the values falloutside chance probabilities.

In some preferred embodiments, the term “extra-chance deviation” caninvolve, e.g., when the output [e.g. theoretical output] of the REG hasa known distribution (either theoretical, as in mathematicallycomputable based on the physical nature and/or other properties of thesystem, or expected due to empirical calibrations, as in based on priorvalues obtained from sampling the REG many times to determine itsbehavior) and it is determined that a given output [e.g. sample] fallsoutside of a range that would be expected to occur by chance most of thetime (e.g. those ranges which would occur by chance in 95%, 99%, 99.5%,99.9%, . . . , of situations), we deem the deviation to be“extra-chance.” While these extra-chance events may and will happen eventhe absence of any influence due to consciousness, intention, or theoutside environment, studies have shown that these deviations are morelikely {e.g., occur more frequently than standard physical andstatistical theory would predict} or more meaningful {e.g., occurring attimes that are relevant to the user, or in accordance with some patternsnot expected by standard physical or statistical theory} when humanconsciousness, intention, or other subjective factors are at work.

In some preferred embodiments, the term “Random Event Generator” (REG)includes, e.g., either a standard random event generator, or a randomevent generator combined with a process that looks for extra-chanceoccurrences (subsets of output which are statistically significant vs.the null-hypothesis that the random event generator is producing itsexpected theoretical output) in order to carry out, as some illustrativeexamples, one or more of the uses set forth in this application. Aswould be appreciated upon a full reading of this disclosure by those inthe art, there is a distinction between a process that is supposed to berandom based on physics and which is designed to be random in a controlcondition but which is no longer random under the influence of someanomalous factor(s) (such as, e.g., the effect of consciousness or thelike).

In some preferred embodiments, some uses of the system of the presentinvention include the following:

-   -   1) A person uses the random event generator with software        designed to aid in short-term decision making; for example, the        output of the REG is used by a person to make binary decisions        (e.g., YES or NO decisions regarding a choice or option). Here,        it is noted that in the preferred implementation, this type of        YES/NO process is a very unique and different use of a        traditional REGs in the sense that getting a “Yes” or getting a        “No” relies in some examples herein on producing some result        which falls outside of chance probabilities. In particular, REG        devices have not been understood as being capable of Yes/No        and/or 1/0 types of decision-making. Here, the present        inventor(s) has employed a novel and unique process involving        detecting extra-chance probabilities and providing a particular        answer YES or NO output based on, e.g., such extra-chance        probabilities (e.g., passing a certain threshold). Here, the        present invention is adapted to, e.g., look for an extra-chance        result to derive a YES or NO output because it is expected that        there is some other connection or influence.    -   2) A person uses the random event generator as in #1 above, but        with additional software processing to allow for non-binary        outcomes, selecting one of a larger number of possible choices        based on the output of the device.        -   a) In some examples, the random event generator generates            numbers, which are used to predict.        -   b) In some examples, the output is refined to include a            statistical confidence level for each outcome based on the            magnitude of the anomalous deviation from chance.    -   3) The output of the REG chooses which words should be selected        from a word bank and presented to the user; in some examples,        the user interprets the word or phrase as an answer to a        question, uses it in a story and/or otherwise uses the word or        phrase.    -   3b) A user enters different options into a program (such as,        e.g., “Go to the movies”; “Visit my friend”; “Rent a video        game”). The user then sits in front of the REG focusing on their        goal, after collecting data for a period of time. At the end of        the process, the software provides the operator with information        relating to which choice they should pursue.    -   4) The output of the REG is processed to detect the influence of        consciousness, and the output is used in conjunction with        genetic algorithms, artificial intelligence, and/or a Monte        Carlo simulation for the purpose of enhancing the efficiency of        a financial or business or scientific simulation. In some        illustrative examples, a small increase in the accuracy of such        a simulation could make millions of dollars for a company.    -   5) The output of the REG is fed into a data-mining system along        with other indicators for the purpose of, e.g., detecting        indicators of subjective resonance in an environment. In a hotel        chain, for example, REG output can be correlated with measures        of guest satisfaction and/or with sales of products.    -   6) A person tests their ability to influence the outputs of the        random event generator for the purpose of exploring the states        of mind that are required to produce such an effect.        -   a) For example, a program provides ways for a person to            record their states of mind during the process by—e.g., such            person typing in their subjective comments, speaking into a            microphone, recording video of their experience, or allowing            an observer to make comments.        -   b) For example, the person is connected to a physiological            monitoring apparatus and the output of the apparatus is            correlated to the REG output in real-time and used to aid            in, e.g., any of the above processes.        -   c) For example, the person is connected to a physiological            monitoring apparatus and the output of the apparatus is            correlated to the REG output after the fact to explore how            biological states correlate with extra-chance outcomes.    -   7) An REG is used as in #6 above, but with the aid of a        facilitator who helps the person to explore and understand how        their states of mind relate to the device, and subsequently how        their states of mind help or hinder their performance in other        activities (such as, e.g. other activities in day to day life).    -   8) A software program provides feedback to the user regarding,        e.g., their REG performance, using a) artificial        intelligence, b) the user's prior history and c) comments,        and/or a) previously documented trends for the sake of, e.g.,        providing cues relating to the operators state of mind in their        native language, as if another human being were providing        feedback to them.    -   9) A REG circuit, connected to a microcontroller, is placed        inside an object (such as, e.g., stuffed animal or toy)), and        when extra-chance deviations from chance are detected, the        circuit causes the toy to make response (e.g., an emotional        response) to the user.    -   10) A REG circuit, connected to a microcontroller, is placed        inside a piece of furniture or decorative object for the purpose        of detecting emotional excitement or coherence in the        environment. When such extra-chance deviations are detected over        various time-scales, the device enters into, e.g., an attractive        visual state for the purpose of alerting its viewers to the        significance of the event. See, e.g., embodiments related to        lamp and the like as described below.    -   11) The REG output is used in conjunction with a search        algorithm to help locate a person, an object, and/or another        item in an unknown location.    -   12) The REG output is used in a romantic or        personal-relationship context, with users correlating        extra-chance results with the potential for a strong emotional        connection between participants on a date or in an intimate        encounter.

In some of the preferred embodiments, the system can include some or allof the features described below. As described in the detaileddiscussions of the preferred embodiments, there are numerous embodimentsof the present invention, and various aspects of these embodiments canbe employed depending on circumstances (e.g., combining variousfunctionality or uses in some embodiments with various architecture ortechnology in other embodiments). For example, various embodimentsdescribed herein can involve portable hand-held devices that are whollyindependent units, to employing devices that are remote and communicatevia, e.g., the Internet, cell phone and/or the like, such as, e.g.,described in various embodiments herein-below. Moreover, variousfunctionalities, such as, e.g., providing of messages (e.g., textmessages) to users can be implemented in various architectures of thedevice (e.g., as messages made by a particular device for that device'suser or sent via cellular phone, via the Internet, or the like.

1) Multiple analog noise sources are combined together on a singlecircuit board and combined together in a mathematical manner so as toenhance the statistical output of the device without resorting topseudo-random or deterministic processing.

2) Multiple, independent random event generator units are combinedtogether in a single package for the purpose of being able to serve outa large number of random bit-streams to users over the internet, witheach user “owning” their own portion of a particular unit and bitstream.

The above and/or other aspects, features and/or advantages of variousembodiments will be further appreciated in view of the followingdescription in conjunction with the accompanying figures. Variousembodiments can include and/or exclude different aspects, featuresand/or advantages where applicable. In addition, various embodiments cancombine one or more aspect or feature of other embodiments whereapplicable. The descriptions of aspects, features and/or advantages ofparticular embodiments should not be construed as limiting otherembodiments or the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an initial screen illustrating an illustrative set up of anexperiment in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 2 shows some illustrative comments that are made as things happenin an environment in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a new segment in data in accordance withsome illustrative embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a graphic illustration of data relating to the performanceillustrated in FIG. 3 in accordance with some illustrative embodimentsof the invention;

FIG. 5 is a graphical illustration of additional data relating to theperformance of FIG. 3 in accordance with some illustrative embodimentsof the invention;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged graphical illustration of the data of FIG. 5 inaccordance with some illustrative embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 7 is an illustration of a new segment in the data in accordancewith some illustrative embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the input and output of the microcontrollerin accordance with some illustrative embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic of an example an analogue noise source inaccordance with some illustrative embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative embodiment having a LCD display,external buttons, a wireless transmitter, and a memory card reader inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 11 depicts an embodiment including a slide-up LCD screen and fullkeyboard in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 12 illustrates a smaller version of FIG. 11 in accordance with anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 13 illustrates a device having a toggle knob and multi-buttons inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 14 illustrates the device having three push buttons in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 15 illustrates an embodiment incorporating the device into abody-worn device (e.g., an arm or wrist worn device, such as, e.g., awrist-watch) in accordance with some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 16 illustrates a block diagram of another embodiment of the inputand output element of a microprocessor in accordance with someembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram showing the inventor's depiction of focusin the background art;

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram showing differing point of focus from thebackground art in relation to some embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 19 is an illustrative architectural technical diagram according tosome illustrative embodiments, while FIG. 19(A) is an illustrative flowchart of a use of the system;

FIG. 20 is an example screen and usage process user interface loginscreen according to some embodiments;

FIG. 21 is an illustrative Event Scheduler display according to someembodiments;

FIG. 22 is an illustrative Event Scheduler Confirmation screen accordingto some embodiments;

FIG. 23 is an illustrative exemplary email received from an auto-maileraccording to some embodiments, while FIG. 23(A) is an illustrative emailattachment and FIG. 23(B) is an illustrative attachment with textualdata according to some embodiments;

FIG. 24 is an illustrative Main Page display according to someembodiments;

FIG. 25 is an illustrative screen related to viewing of data onlineaccording to some illustrative embodiments;

FIG. 27 is an illustrative screen shot related to an exemplary situationinvolving a “first date with Sally” according to some embodiments;

FIG. 28 is an illustrative screen related to, e.g., sharing of dataaccording to some embodiments;

FIG. 29 is an illustrative diagram depicting splitting a bit stream intovirtual streams;

FIG. 30 is an illustrative diagram depicting the REG Scheduler receivinga Schedule Request;

FIG. 31 is an illustrative diagram depicting monitoring the ScheduleTable according to some embodiments;

FIG. 32 is an illustrative boot sequence diagram according to someembodiments;

FIG. 33 is an illustrative diagram showing initialization of a singledevice according to some embodiments;

FIG. 34 is an illustrative diagram showing calibration collectionsequence according to some embodiments;

FIG. 35 is an illustrative diagram showing a data collection sequenceaccording to some embodiments;

FIG. 36 is an illustrative diagram showing a calibration test sequenceaccording to some embodiments;

FIG. 37 is an illustrative calibration test pseudo code according tosome embodiments;

FIG. 38 is an illustrative diagram depicting processing of the datafile;

FIG. 39 is an illustrative diagram depicting a high level overview of anREG server system according to some embodiments;

FIG. 40 is an illustrative housing for a lamp according to someembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 41 is an illustrative perspective view of some illustrativecomponents that are combined into some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 42 is an illustrative chart of some components of the deviceaccording to some embodiments; and

FIG. 43 is an illustrative architectural diagram according to someembodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 1. Embodiment Set “I”A System for Correlating Events with Deviations from Chance Due toInterpersonal Happenings in Real-Time

Overview:

A system comprising a generator of a truly random signal connected to aninput and feedback device for the purpose of providing a user with realtime feedback on the random signal. The user observes a representationof the signal while acting as an observer or participant in an externalphysical event for the purpose of finding a correlation between therandom output and what happens during the physical event.

In an illustrative embodiment of the invention, an electronic source oftrue physical randomness, self powered, as for example by a battery(such as, e.g., a 3V lithium ion battery), is interfaced to amicrocontroller which, based on the configuration of activation orcontrol mechanisms, such as switches, buttons, or the like, performs oneor more computations on a digitized representation of an analog sourceof physical randomness (such as but not limited to the current across areverse-biased PN junction such as in a transistor or diode; the outputof a phototransistor, photo-resistor, photo-multiplier or otherelectronic apparatus that allows current to flow, voltage to increase,or resistance to change as a result of incident photons that arrive insome stochastic way; an electronic signal measured by a Geiger county orother instrumentation meant to measure radioactive decay; pixels from aCMOS, CCD, or other digital camera measured in dark conditions where theleakage of current and thermal environment can create anon-deterministic output signal). In some embodiments, the result ofthese computations subsequently drives one or more signaling sources,such as, e.g., one or more LED, an audible alarm, or a vibrating motor,and/or another device, such as, e.g., a monitor, or even a printer, for,e.g., the purpose of informing a user of an outcome (e.g. that thedigitized representation of the random analog signal has surpassedcertain pre-determined levels of statistical significance.).

By way of example, this type of device would have a variety ofadvantageous uses and applications. For example, a user could use thedevice to correlate an REG output with their environment. For instance,when the REG notifies the user of an event (e.g., when it buzzes), theuser may, e.g., be talking on the phone with a friend, or when anindividual walks into a room, or when some other event occurs, which canthen lead the user to address the situation differently, such as, e.g.,to go initiate a conversation with the person that entered the room orthe like.

In a preferred embodiment of the device, data sampled from the analogsource is stored to a form of internal memory within the device andlater sent to a computer using, e.g., a) a hard wired interface such as,e.g., an USB, firewire connection or b) a wireless interface, such as,e.g., a Bluetooth connection or another wireless interface. The personis then able to analyze said data using the personal computer andcompare happenings in the data with recollections of an event.

In a further embodiment of the invention, a portable hand-held device isprovided with a user manipulated interface (such as, e.g., buttons orthe like) and a display (such as, e.g., an LCD screen), wherein thedevice can be carried around by a user, such as, e.g., when attending anevent, such as a meditation session. In some embodiments, at the pressof a button on the device, the device begins “recording” data by takingsamples from an internal random generator, and it plots them on thedisplay or screen in a manner that expresses the likelihood of saidrandom signals occurring by chance. If the user observes statisticallysignificant deviations from signals that would be generated purely bychance, the user can then examine the subjective environment in order todetermine the cause of the deviation from chance.

The above and/or other aspects, features and/or advantages of variousembodiments will be further appreciated in view of the followingdescription in conjunction with the accompanying figures.

Discussions Regarding Embodiment Set “I”

In an embodiment of the invention, the device is provided with a circuitin which there is a high ohm resistor fed into the gate of a FET thatcreates a source of thermal noise. The thermal noise is filtered usingpassive components (such as resistors and capacitors) and put through amulti-stage transistor amplifier or op amp for the purpose of amplifyingthe signal, preferably, by a factor of at least 100.

The effect of the analog source is to generate a non-deterministicanalog signal that can be sampled by a digital circuit to create afundamentally unpredictable source of random bits. That is, in somepreferred embodiments, rather than relying solely upon an algorithm togenerate random numbers, another input, such as, e.g., an analog input,is provided to feed an unpredictable variable to the random numbergeneration system. In some illustrative preferred embodiments, theanalog input is related to ambient conditions, or to changes in suchconditions. In some embodiments, ambient conditions can range fromphysical conditions, such as temperature, pressure, humidity, and/or thelike, to emissions from biological creatures (such as, e.g., plants,bacteria, insects, rodents, etc., up to and including humans). Theanalog signal is preferably not affected by ambient conditions. However,ambient conditions can preferably be measured and factored into theprocessing in order to negate the affect of ambient conditions. [Forexample, in the prior case, temperature may be monitored and themicrocontroller may calculate an increase in the mean number of “1” bitsper each increase in temperature, and dynamically re-normalize the dataaccording to the temperature in order to maintain a 50/50 balance of “1”and “0” bits.] In some embodiments, biological emissions can includethose that are presently known, as well as those that will be known inthe future. =In some embodiments, in the case of biological changes, itcan be advantageous to correlate the REG output with the biologicalsignal for the purpose of enhancing the output. For example, heart ratevariability can be measured to get a sense of whether or not a person isfeeling stressed, and processed in conjunction with the random output;by way of example, if a program identifies that results occurred moreoften when a person is not stressed, it can report on that or provide anew feedback. By way of example, if a particular measured deviation inthe REG could be determined, based on prior research, to correspond toeither enthusiasm or to anger, the system might, e.g., use thephysiological correlates (such as, e.g., heart rate, galvanic skinresponse, FMRI readings, the output of EEG or EKG apparatus) todetermine if the person is more likely enthusiastic rather than angry,and the system can be configured to, thus, rule out any kind of feedbackmessage that would correspond to anger such as “You need to stop beingso angry!” And, the feedback that is presented can be enhanced based onthe physiological state of the end user.

A low power microcontroller running off of an internal oscillatorconnects to the analog source and to external control circuitry (e.g.,input, output, memory, and communications.) The digital portion of thecircuit uses a comparator or analog-to-digital converter to sample theanalog source, and subsequently performs various calculations on thebits based on the state of the external control circuitry.

In some embodiments, the calculations can be in any combination, such asfor example:

1) Enable one or more of many outputs based on a value sampled from theanalog source at a point in time;

2) Selectively invert some digitized bits sampled from the analog outputfor the purpose of, e.g., enabling or disabling one of the many outputs;

3) Generate a running average of bits or of selectively inverted bitsfrom the digitized analog source over a period of time and modify thestate of the output circuitry based on that combination;

4) Take a measure of variance on the digitized analog output sourcesover a period of time and modify the state of the output circuitry basedon that variance;

5) Modify the state of outputs based on the state of prior outputs (forexample, playing a game where the external output is changed when thedigitized analog input returns similar values);

6) Accumulate outcomes in a register for the purpose of triggering anevent when a particular threshold has been reached;

7) Comparing digitized analog inputs to a template for the purpose oftriggering an event at an unpredictable time.

In some embodiments, a memory attached to the Microcontroller storesdigitized samples from the analog source and information about the stateof control circuitry whenever the device is activated by a configurationof other elements in the control circuitry, or continuously samples datafrom the analog source.

In some embodiments, a communications chip (e.g., Bluetooth, USB, or thelike) is connected to the microcontroller for the purpose of sendingdata to a computer or device (such as, e.g., a PC), where it can be readby another program and subsequently copied to a storage device, such asa hard disk.

In some embodiments, inputs to the microcontroller can be a combinationof push buttons, potentiometers, a touch screen, and switches, and/orthe like, which are fed through passive components or semiconductors forthe purpose of enabling a user to configure the operation of themicrocontroller.

In some embodiments, outputs of the microcontroller can be anycombination of visual displays (such as, e.g., LEDs, or LCDs), audibledevices such as buzzers, speakers, or piezoelectric elements, and/ortactile sensors such as vibrating motors or buzzers for the purpose ofcommunicating a result to the user.

In some embodiments, the analog portion of the circuit can be enclosedin a conductive metal housing as a supplement to any external shieldingthat is provided as a result of the device's case.

In a preferred embodiment, the device can be in the form of a smallportable electronic device, such as, e.g., similar to a keychain-likedevice, such as, e.g., rectangular in shape, with at least two pushbuttons, three LEDs, and a vibrating motor. Other embodiments caninclude a retractable USB connector and can be carried around as iscommon with portable electronics devices.

In some embodiments, applications can be in any of a variety of forms,as for example:

1) To generate truly random binary outcomes that can be observed by theuser;

2) As an aid or supplement to decision making where a chance elementwould provide useful;

3) As an electronic game or as part of an electronic game;

4) As a reminder of events or ideas that could benefit from randomtiming—such as, e.g., to remind a person to write down what they arethinking about, or as an aid to induce lucid dreaming (i.e., byreminding of an individual to perform a certain act or to focus on acertain act at a particular point in time);

5) As a detector of the effects of consciousness in group environments;

6) As an educational tool to provide a demonstration of concepts ofprobability.

Additional Features:

In some embodiments, the system enables the user to enter informationabout the current subjective environment into the computer as theprogram runs and events happen in the world. For example, a music criticmight type “Angela sings the introduction” as said data is recorded, sothat it can be retrospectively examined and compared to other suchevents.

In some embodiments, the system can make real-time measurements withaudio and/or video in order to identify other correlations.

Descriptions of Further Examples of Embodiment Set “I”

General Description:

According to some other embodiments, an electronic source of truephysical randomness (which is, e.g., powered by a battery, such as,e.g., by a 3V lithium ion battery) is interfaced to a microcontrollerwhich, based on the configuration of attached switches and buttons,performs one or more computations on a digitized representation of theanalog source. In some embodiments, the result of these computationssubsequently drives one or more signaling sources, such as, e.g., one ormore LED, an audible alarm, and/or a vibrating motor, for the purposeof, e.g., informing a user of the outcome.

In some advanced embodiments of the device, data sampled from the analogsource is stored in, e.g., an internal memory and later sent to acomputer using, e.g., a wired transmission (e.g., via USB) or a wirelesstransmission (e.g., via Bluetooth).

Analog Source:

In some embodiments, a high ohm resistor fed into the gate of a FETcreates a source of thermal noise, which is filtered using passivecomponents and put through a multi-stage transistor amplifier or op ampfor the purpose of amplifying the signal by, e.g., a factor of at least100.

Preferably, the effect of this analog source is to generate anon-deterministic analog signal which can be sampled by a digitalcircuit to create a fundamentally unpredictable source of random bits.

Digital Circuit:

In some embodiments, a low power microcontroller with its clock rate setby an internal oscillator connects to the analog source and to externalcontrol circuitry (e.g., input, output, memory, and communications.) Insome examples, the digital portion of the circuit uses a comparator oranalog to digital converter to sample the analog source, andsubsequently performs various calculations on the bits based on thestate of the external control circuitry.

In some embodiments, the calculations can include one or more of thefollowing:

1) Enabling one or more of many outputs based on the value sampled fromthe analog source at a point in time;

2) Selectively inverting some digitized bits sampled from the analogoutput for the purpose of enabling or disabling one of the many outputs;

3) Generating a running average of bits or of selectively inverted bitsfrom the digitized analog source over a period of time and modifying thestate of the output circuitry based on that combination;

4) Taking a measure of variance on the digitized analog output sourcesover a period of time and modifying the state of the output circuitrybased on that variance;

5) Modifying the state of outputs based on the state of prior outputs(for example, playing a game where the external output is changed whenthe digitized analog input returns similar values);

6) Accumulating outcomes in a register for the purpose of triggering anevent when a particular threshold has been reached;

7) Comparing digitized analog inputs to a template for the purpose oftriggering an event at an unpredictable time.

Memory:

In some embodiments, a memory attached to the Microcontroller storesdigitized samples from the analog source and information about the stateof control circuitry whenever the device is activated by a configurationof other elements in the control circuitry, or continuously samples datafrom the analog source.

Communications:

In some embodiments, a communications chip (e.g., wireless, such as,e.g., Bluetooth or wired such as, e.g., USB) is connected to theMicrocontroller for the purpose of sending data to the PC, where it canbe read by another program and subsequently copied to, e.g., the harddisk.

Input Circuitry:

In some embodiments, inputs to the microcontroller are a combination ofpush buttons, potentiometers, and/or toggle switches which are fedthrough passive components or semiconductors for the purpose of allowinga user to configure the operation of the microcontroller.

Outputs:

In some embodiments, outputs of the microcontroller can include anycombination of, e.g., visual devices (such as, e.g., LEDs and LCDs),audible devices (such as buzzers, speakers, or piezoelectric elements),and tactile sensors such as vibrating motors or buzzers for the purposeof communicating a result to the user.

Shielding:

In some embodiments, the analog portion of the circuit can be enclosedin a conductive metal housing as a supplement to any external shieldingthat is provided as a result of the device's case. The system ispreferably designed such that the system is shielded from allclassically known forces (such as, e.g., gravity, physical pressure,motion, electromagnetic fields, humidity, etc., and/or, such classicalforces are factored out of the process as much as possible. The systemis, thus, preferably designed to be selectively responsive to signalsfrom living creatures, such as, in particular, humans.

Form Factor:

According to an illustrative initial embodiment of the device, is thedevice includes a small rectangular key chain with two push buttons,three LEDs, and a vibrating motor. In some other embodiments, othermodels can include, e.g., a retractable USB connector and/or can becarried around as portable electronics devices (such as, e.g., byemploying a support strap, band, or tether, a clip, a buckle or clap,and/or another mechanical coupler configured to support the device upona user).

Uses:

According to some illustrative embodiments, one or more of the followinguses can be carried out:

1) To generate truly random binary outcomes which can be observed by auser;

2) As an aid or supplement to decision-making where a chance elementwould provide useful;

3) As an electronic game;

4) As a reminder of events or ideas that could benefit from randomtiming—such as to, e.g., remind a person to write down what they arethinking about, or as an aid to prompt an individual to perform certainmental tasks (such as, e.g., as an aid to induce lucid dreaming byimparting an alarm or other notification for an individual in a restingstate);

5) As a detector of the effects of consciousness in group environments;

6) As an educational tool to provide a demonstration of concepts ofprobability;

7) As a method of assessing the subjective “resonance” or “connection”between groups of people; and/or

8) As a method of creating a subjective assessment of the merits ofideas that come up during a business meeting.

Bottom-Line Point:

With reference to the foregoing uses, one bottom-line point is thatextra-chance deviations can correlate with times that are of particularsubjective meaning to the observer. The above illustrative uses include,e.g., environments within which extra-chance deviations (i.e.,identified by an REG unit) can be correlated to certain such times orevents, such as, e.g., during a group meeting (i.e., use item #7),during a business meeting (i.e., use item #8), during decision-making(i.e., use item #2), etc. In some preferred embodiments, the devicemakes it possible for people to take a physical measurement of something(e.g., an REG reading that is commensurate with a particular usagescenario or event) that was otherwise intangible.

SPECIFIC ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES Example I

In this illustrative example, an employee of a retail store has abackground application running on a checkout screen that displays aprocessed version of a similar random signal. When a new checkoutbegins, the generator begins to produce a feedback that is meant to beindicative of the interaction between the customer checking out and theemployee. For example, the system can enable the customer and/oremployee to become aware of strong deviations from chance and can, e.g.,inform or cue the employee to act towards the customer in a specific orpre-defined way.

Example II

In this illustrative example, during an opera, a music critic orrecruiting agent carries a small handheld device (similar to a device ascould be employed in Example #1) and operates it (e.g., holds down abutton) as a performer gives a presentation, creating a profile of theperformer based on the extent to which the performance causes thegeneration of a statistical deviation from chance. By way ofillustration, FIGS. 1-7 shows some illustrative data that is picked upas the Parkers (i.e., hypothetical performers) performed on “AmericanIdol.”

In this regard, FIG. 1 shows an illustrative graphical user interface ofa device and illustrates the setting up of an experiment to explain whatis being done.

In addition, FIG. 2 illustrates a graphical presentation of deviationsfrom chance, along with a comment field to enter comments that are madeas things happen in the environment.

In addition, FIG. 3 is an illustration of a new segment in the data asStephen Parker (i.e., a hypothetical performer) comes on to give hisperformance and shows, e.g., a response to the performer's high-note.The deviation downward and outside of the parabola might suggest how theaudience responded to the event.

In addition, FIG. 4 is an illustrative graphic illustration of datarelating to Stephen Parker's performance for use after the event (suchas, e.g., in order to tell the performer's wife about her husband'sperformance). In this illustrative example, the data indicates that Mr.Parker's performance was flat except, that there is little marker (e.g.,blue marker) at the bottom of the graph.

In addition, FIGS. 5 and 6 show that there is a bit of a strong slopeover some trials, suggesting that something happened. In particular, anunderlying principle of these embodiments is that certain deviationsfrom chance identified by a device according to the present inventioncan often relate to certain events, and, in particular, to emotionalevents occurring at that time—such as, e.g., that it can indicate thatthe high-note made many of the young women in the audience to startcrying.

In addition, FIG. 7 shows data for Sheldon's (i.e., another illustrativeperformer's) performance. In this illustrative example, it may appearthat there is not much there; but, it looks a little bit different fromStephen's. This can, e.g., potentially help to identify somedifferences. For example, maybe Sheldon's dance moves that he was doingin the beginning got the audience excited. As such, the preferredembodiments can be used to evaluate certain usage situations byconcurrently looking at the deviation away from chance. For example, theperformer's starting to strip during the performance could coincide withthe shown downturn of the data in FIG. 7.

CONCLUSION

According to these illustrative (although whimsical) examples, the datagenerated by a system of the present invention during these hypotheticalperformance of the Parkers on American Idol can lead an observer toquestion whether or not these performers really have that “magicaltouch” that the observer desires (e.g., if the observer is a recordingstudio, the studio can use this information to ascertain if the Parkerswould be a preferred addition to their record company); or, the observermay conclude that maybe there should be some further studies onSheldon's dance performances based on the data obtained.

Example III

In this illustrative example, a portable hand-held device with buttonsand an LCD screen is carried around by a user when they attend ameditation session. In some examples, at the press of a button, thedevice begins “recording” data by taking samples from an internal randomgenerator, and it plots the samples on the screen in a manner thatidentifies the likelihood of said random signals occurring by chance. Ifthe user notices statistically significant deviations, the user canexamine their subjective environment so as to determine or to helpidentify what caused the deviation.

2. Embodiment Set “II” A Portable System for Providing Real-TimeFeedback on the State of a Truly Random Process for the Purpose ofExploring the Effects of Human Consciousness

Overview:

According to some embodiments, the present invention involves a systemin which various elements are combined into a single streamlined systemthat can use one device to provide the desired functions.

In some examples, the present embodiments relate to a system forenhancing the ability of users to correlate the effects of humanconsciousness with the output of random physical processes.

In an illustrative embodiment of the invention, a system is provided forproducing a series of true random numbers. In some embodiments, thesystem includes using a hardware device to produce an analog noisesignal, converting the analog noise signal to a binary true randomsequence of signals, interfacing the binary true random sequence ofsignals to a general purpose personal computer, and utilizing theinterfaced binary true random sequence of signals in said computer. Thisis a completely new integrated system for producing random numbergeneration, specifically for the purpose of looking for extra-chancedeviations that relate to consciousness. In the preferred embodiments,the user does something with the outcomes that relates to life and/orpersonal states (e.g., something other than cryptography, generatingnumbers for gambling, etc.), such that the system relates to a totallynew paradigm.

The above and/or other aspects, features and/or advantages of variousembodiments will be further appreciated in view of the followingdescription in conjunction with the accompanying figures.

Discussions of Examples of Embodiment Set “II”

While the present invention can be embodied in many different forms, anumber of illustrative embodiments are described herein with theunderstanding that the present disclosure is to be considered asproviding examples of the principles of the invention and that suchexamples are not intended to limit the invention to preferredembodiments described herein and/or illustrated herein.

In one class of experimentation, users attempt to correlate the outputsof the random process with physical events for the purpose of seeing ifthe device produces a statistically significant deviation from chanceduring that particular event.

In some of the preferred embodiments, a system according to the presentinvention greatly improves upon this process by 1) incorporating a truerandom event generator, 2) into a portable system, and 3) providing asoftware interface that enables its users to observe data beingcollected in real time, analyze prior results, and easily transfer datato a personal computer. In the preferred embodiments, the system alsomakes it possible for the user to track happenings in the physicalenvironment by entering comments into the device (e.g., by operating akeyboard or other user interfaces, by hitting a button, and/or through amultiple-sensor data recording system). Preferably, this information isrecorded in parallel to the output of the random signal device and canthen be analyzed directly by the user (such as, e.g., via a time-wisegraphical output of results or the like).

In some embodiments, a portable and self-powered system is provided thatincludes one or more inputs (e.g., a keypad, push buttons, a microphoneelement, a CCD, etc.), outputs (e.g., an LCD display, LEDs, an audiblealert, or alarm or speaker, and/or a vibrating motor), and an integratedtruly random physical signal generator. Preferably, the system is fitinto a single housing with a processor and with integrated software thatis also configured to detect deviations from chance in the random signalgenerator and to present and/or relay information about those outputsback to the user (preferably, in real time).

In some embodiments, the random signal generator includes a physicalnoise source such as a reverse biased PN junction, a resistor, or atransistor, fed into an amplification circuit, and then converted to adigital signal using a comparator or analog to digital converter. Insome examples, this digital signal is fed into the microcontroller orprocessor so as to create an unpredictable digital stream (e.g., of onesand zeros), which is stored by the software system.

In some embodiments, the software system is programmed to allow users toidentify or mark events and/or mental states in a time-wisefashion—e.g., at the beginning or ending of particular events in theirenvironment or mental state by using an attached input device. In someembodiments, this information can be provided via entry in a keypad, viasound recording, via video recording, via pressing of a button, and/orvia the measurement of a physiological response such as, e.g., anindividual's pulse, heart rate variability, galvanic skin resistance,and/or some other measurement taken, e.g., through a sensor attached tothe device.

In some embodiments, advantages of the system of the present inventioncan include one or more of the following:

-   -   Portable and Integrated. Prior systems for exploring the effects        of consciousness on random systems have involved a computer        device as well as an external random event generator and        software that must be loaded into the system. The need for        multiple devices is cumbersome, and the need to install software        onto different systems can be tedious, time consuming and prone        to creating crashes and/or other bugs. Among other things, in        the preferred embodiments, by combining the computer system,        external hardware device, and software into one portable and        integrated system, users are able to conduct experiments in        venues that were previously impractical.    -   Software Flexibility. In the preferred embodiments, the software        that is included in the system makes it possible for both those        with and without a strong scientific backgrounds to evaluate, on        their own, whether certain effects can be measured and to come        to their own conclusions about the effects being measured. In        some embodiments, for scientists, the device can preferably be        put into an “advanced mode” via a software selection (such as,        e.g., in a mode in which raw statistical outputs and cumulative        deviation graphs are displayed on the screen). For other users,        the device can preferably be set to a “simple mode” in which        some form of simple visual and/or other indication is provided        to show the magnitude of the deviation from chance (for example,        the system can present numbers (e.g., showing scaled values)        and/or colorful displays indicating the magnitude of an effect        that can be shown on a display screen.    -   Additional Inputs. In some embodiments, in addition to and/or as        an alternative to a standard keyboard or keypad, the device can        provide additional inputs such as a microphone, a CCD, and/or        sensor inputs (e.g., sensor inputs that measure physiological        parameters such as pulse, heart rate variability, EEG activity,        skin conductance, or muscle tension). In some embodiments, these        other inputs can be used to simplify and enhance the user's        ability to correlate happenings in the physical environment with        data generated by the device. Preferably, data from these inputs        is stored in the device's memory in a time-stamped fashion that        correlates it to the random output (such as, e.g., having data        from the random output shown concurrently on a time-based graph        adjacent data related to said one or more inputs).    -   Entry without opening. Prior multi-part systems required that        the user interrupt their activity to open the device for the        sake of marking a new event. In some embodiments, however, this        device makes it possible to unobtrusively mark happenings in the        external environment (for example, in some embodiments, such        events can be marked with a single action to effect an input,        such as, e.g., the press of a single button located on the        outside of the case). In some embodiments, the “mark” is stored        in the data and a user can later, using, e.g., a keypad, after        the real-time data recording, edit the data so as to input        additional information (such as, e.g., additional comments or        the like related to the “mark”).    -   Built-in Analysis. In some embodiments, the device makes it        possible for users to review the outcome of prior sessions (such        as, e.g., via a display on an LCD screen). In the preferred        embodiments, the device stores past data and is configured to        present such stored data on the screen. Among other things, such        storage and presentation further facilitates comparison of data        obtained and further identification of information of interest.        Among other things, this is a step forward from other devices        such as the MindSong “Drum” which could collect data but could        not review prior sessions without a host computer.    -   Removable Memory. In some embodiments, in addition to employing        a built-in memory, the device can have an expansion card or        other removable medium that accepts off-the-shelf removable        memory cards and enables data to be stored on them for easy        transfer to a PC and increased data capacity.    -   Multi-Mode data transfer. In some embodiments, the device is        also configured to enable users to transfer data to an external        computer (e.g., an external PC) using one or more of a variety        of methods, such as wired data transfer methods (e.g., using USB        cables, Ethernet connections and/or the like), wireless data        transfer (e.g., using WLAN, cellular, Bluetooth, IrDA, Wi-Fi        and/or other wireless or wired interfaces or connections to a        computer or other network (e.g., a local or public network). In        some preferred embodiments, the device enables multi-modes of        data transfer, including, wired, wireless, etc.    -   Ability to function as a wireless sensor. In some embodiments,        the device can use its wireless communications capability to        function as a real-time provider of statistical data to a        computer (e.g., a PC or a server). In some embodiments, a        plurality or many of such devices can communicate to a single        computer (e.g., a single server or host PC) for the purposes of,        e.g., transferring data between devices, gathering data from        multiple devices, identifying statistical data from among a        group of devices, identifying anomalies and/or confirming        results, etc.    -   Vibration alert mode. In some embodiments, the device can        contain a motion-creating mechanism (such as, e.g., vibrating or        buzzing motor) that, e.g., privately alerts the user to the        occurrence of interesting data (e.g., by buzzing when the        deviation from chance exceeds a certain threshold). In some        embodiments, such an alarm or alert can be pre-programmed or set        by the user in software (such as, e.g., by providing the user        with a user interface via which to input and select threshold        values or the like). In some embodiments, such an alert mode can        use other forms of alert, such as, e.g., auditory, visual, heat,        pressure, electronic charge and/or other forms of output that        can alert a user.    -   True Randomness. In the preferred embodiments, the noise source        used by this device is truly random. In this document, the        terminology “true random” or “truly random” generator means that        the output of the generator is not generated by deterministic        algorithms and cannot be predicted based on any knowledge of the        state of the system.

Main Menu:

In some embodiments, a user interface presented on the device to a usercan include a main menu that includes at least some, preferably all, ofthe following features:

A) Begin data collection/run a session.

B) Analyze previous sessions.

C) Transfer data.

D) Device Settings

A) Data Collection:

With reference to A) above, in some embodiments, this can include, e.g.,at least some, preferably all, of the following functional features:

1) Setup the Session:

-   -   a. Create/Enter an Experiment Category.    -   b. Enter a name for the session.    -   c. Select other options. (e.g., Buzz at a certain level of        significance).

2) Record Data:

-   -   a. Allow user to enter comments.    -   b. Allow user to mark a new segment.    -   c. Back to #2.

3) Quit data collection.

B) Analysis:

With reference to B) above, in some embodiments, this can include, e.g.,at least some, preferably all, of the following functional features:

1) Select by experiment category.

2) Select experiment name.

3) Browse the session.

C) Transfer Data:

With reference to C) above, in some embodiments, this can include, e.g.,at least some, preferably all, of the following functional features:

1) Select transfer method.

D) Device Settings:

With reference to D) above, in some embodiments, this can include, e.g.,at least some, preferably all, of the following functional features:

1) Single settings screen to configure options.

Architectural Details According to Some Illustrative Embodiments

With reference to FIG. 8, this figure shows illustrative architecturalcomponents according to some illustrative embodiments. As shown, thefigure is a block diagram illustrating some inputs (e.g., random source,keypad and action buttons) into the microcontroller. As also shown, inthis illustrative example, a display is provided that includes an LCDModule that is depicting as preferably exchanging input with themicrocontroller, while in some embodiments LEDs are included thatstrictly receive data from the microcontroller.

With reference to the electrical schematic diagram of FIG. 9, thisfigure shows one embodiment of an analog noise source that may be usedin the system. In this example, Q1 and R1 generate thermal noise, whichis amplified by Q2 and Q3, put through an integrator (e.g., R10 and C5)and fed to a comparator whose transitions have approximately a 50%chance of being high and a 50% chance of being low.

With reference to FIG. 10, this figure depicts an illustrativeembodiment of the device that includes a tough sensitive LCD display,external buttons (which can, e.g., in some embodiments be integrated aspart of the LCD display by incorporating touch-screen capabilities(e.g., similar to a touch screen on an iPHONE or the like), a wirelesstransmitter, and a memory card reader. In the preferred embodiments,this version of the device preferably runs its own software capable ofanalyzing data (e.g., prior data) and/or displaying results in realtime. Preferably, this device is also configured to transmit its datavia a wireless connection and/or via a wired connection (e.g., via a USBcable).

With reference to FIG. 11, this figure shows another embodiment that issimilar to embodiment shown in FIG. 10 except that it includes aslide-up LCD screen (e.g., the screen is mounted so as to slidelaterally from a closed position covering the keypad or keyboard to anexposed position exposing the keypad or keyboard), a full (e.g.,QWERTY-style keyboard with physical keys in place of the touch screenand includes a wireless transmitter.

With reference to FIG. 12, this figure shows another embodiment that isessentially a smaller version of the embodiment shown in FIG. 11 with afixed position LCD display and with a small/full keypad (e.g., similarto a common BLACKBERRY device employed thumb-activated keys) or with anabbreviated keypad (e.g., which can involve a keypad with fewer keysthan a full QWERTY keypad). In some embodiments, the device isconfigured to be less than about 8 inches wide and 11 inches high and 1inch deep. In some preferred embodiments, the device is configured to beless than about 7 inches wide, 9 inches, and 0.50 inches deep. In someembodiments, the device is approximately 4.5″ (high)×3.5″ (wide)×0.25″(deep) or even smaller, such that it can be comfortably carried aroundin a user's shirt and/or pants pocket.

With reference to FIG. 13, this figure shows another embodiment of adevice that is similar to the above devices except that the keypad inputis replaced with a toggle knob (shown in the bottom-center region on theface of the device) and a plurality of buttons (e.g., multi-buttonsshown at the top right side of the device). By way of example, thistoggle knob can include functionality similar to that of acommonly-known iPOD device. Among other things, in some embodiments,this embodiment can, thus, employ GUI software providing a simplifiedGraphical User Interface (GUI) to make access easier to the user. Insome embodiments, due to the simplified GUI, the device can be evensmaller in size, such as, e.g., having a height of less than 4 inches, awidth of less than 2 inches and a depth of less than ¼ inch. In someexamples, the size can be about 2.5″ long×1.75″ wide×0.15″ deep or evensmaller. In addition, in some embodiments, the device can be affixed toa user's apparel or body (e.g., in some embodiments, the device caninclude a strap, a clip or other attaching means to affix it to, e.g.,the user's arm or other body-part, and/or it can be readily carriedaround in a user's pocket.

With reference to FIG. 14, this figure depicts another embodiment of thedevice that does not employ a display and keypad (e.g., forsaking an LCDdisplay and keypad) in favor of a most economical design that features afew (e.g., three) push buttons), a few (e.g., three) light-emittingelements (e.g., LEDs), a microphone, and, in some embodiments, avibrating motor. In this embodiment of the device, the user can simplypush a button to mark the beginning of a new data collection segment,can simply push another button to start/stop the device, and can simplypush a third button to mark a new experiment. Preferably, data is storedon an internal memory and can be uploaded to an external computer (e.g.,a PC), such as, e.g., with a USB cable. In addition, in someembodiments, the USB cable can also be employed to charge a batterypower-source within the device. In some preferred embodiments, thisdevice can be made very small, such as, e.g., even less than about 2inches wide, 3 inches long, and ¼ inch deep, and, in some embodiments,the size can even be smaller than 1.75″×1.5″×0.15″ and can be readilyfit onto a keychain to facilitate carrying, etc.

With reference to FIG. 15, this figure depicts another embodiment thatincorporates the device into a wrist-watch form-factor. In thisdisclosure, the terminology “form-factor” is meant to identify a formwithin which an example device can be constructed, and is similar to theterminology “embodiment.” In this example, the device does not have tobe integrated with a time display for incorporating common watch-relatedfunctions, but is configured with a strap and sized so as to fit arounda user's wrist in a manner similar to a common wrist-watch. In thepreferred embodiments, the device includes a strap (e.g., having twosections that can be clasped together around a user's wrist, such as,e.g., with Velcro, a buckle-type connector, etc.), a device enclosurewith a front display region (e.g., similar to a common electronicwatch), and one or more front face or peripheral side operating buttons(e.g., such as the two depicted side buttons). In some preferredembodiments, the device is configured to connect to an external computer(such as, e.g., an external PC) using a wired interface (e.g., amicro-USB connector) or a wireless interface (e.g., using Bluetooth),and employs a plurality of buttons (such as, e.g., in an illustrativeexample, three on the front face, and two on the peripheral side of thedevice enclosure), which buttons can be adapted to provide the controlsto use the device (which can, in some embodiments, be a functionallyreduced version of the software).

3. Embodiment Set “III” A System for Providing an Alert to its User atTimes that are Based on True Physical Randomness and can be Affected bythe Influence of Human Consciousness

Overview:

The present embodiments of the invention improve upon the above and/orother background technologies and/or problems therein.

The preferred embodiments of this invention relate to the field ofelectronic detectors and controllers, and more specifically to a methodand apparatus of generating values, in particular to generating valuesthat are influenced by human consciousness, and detecting whether thevalues fall outside chance probabilities.

The present embodiments of the invention involve, e.g., a system inwhich various elements are combined into a single streamlined systemthat can use one device to provide the desired functions.

In a broad embodiment of the invention, a potentiometer or switch on thedevice is provided to adjust the frequency of the reminders from aperiod of, for example, less than one or two times per day to as many asone time per half-hour. This enables the device to be adjusted based onthe purpose for which it is being used, while retaining its randomcharacter in that the adjustment merely sets an approximation or anexpected number of times that the device should go off.

Unlike other reminder devices on the market, the technology of thepresent invention uses a truly random physical source to determine thetimes at which an event is triggered. A true random source has beenshown to be susceptible to the influences of human consciousness. Forexample, there is laboratory evidence that shows that a device in thedescribed configuration is more likely to trigger a reminder when theuser is, e.g., emotionally engaged in a particular process or would findthe reminder to be beneficial. Accordingly, although devices of thepresent invention can employ pseudo-random generation, suchpseudo-random generation devices do not provide the advantages ofconsciousness influenced random generation.

Consciousness influenced random generation makes it impossible for aperson to predict the occurrence of the event trigger, except in thecases where the event is triggered by the influence of the user'sconsciousness.

The above and/or other aspects, features and/or advantages of variousembodiments will be further appreciated in view of the followingdescription in conjunction with the accompanying figures.

Description of Embodiment Set “III”

According to some illustrative embodiments, a small battery powereddevice is carried about by a user for the purpose of being reminded of aparticular event, idea, or goal. In some embodiments, unlike otherreminder devices, this device reminds the user at times that are randomand unpredictable (i.e., based on an REG device output). Among otherthings, the device can be used, e.g., for the purposes of putting anidea into the user's conscious or subconscious, helping to bolster or tocreate user habits, and/or catching the person at unexpected times.Furthermore, in the preferred embodiments, the process that generatesthe timing and characteristics of the random reminders is unique in thatit is driven by a non-deterministic physical signal and has beenengineered based on empirical evidence that the device can respond tohuman consciousness and create an alert at times that are particularlyrelevant to the user and his or her goals. For example, based on thetheory or concept that a user's consciousness can affect such an REGoutput, the device can theoretically provide reminders or the like atparticularly relevant times based on the theory that such times may betriggered in part by the user's or other human consciousness.

In some illustrative embodiments, the system includes a circuit, drivenby an electronic source of true physical randomness and powered by abattery (such as, .e.g., a 3V lithium ion battery), is interfaced with amicrocontroller that samples a random source, stores the samples in amemory, and performs computations on the data. In some preferredembodiments, these computations serve the purpose of adjusting orvarying the time(s) at which a “reminder event” will occur based onmanipulations of the random source and, in some embodiments, on aconfiguration that can be defined by the user.

In some embodiments, when an internal threshold has been reached and thedevice decides that a “reminder event” or “alert event” should occur,the microcontroller activates a connected output device such as, e.g., avibrating motor, an LED, and/or an audible alarm, any of which is usedfor the purpose of making the user aware that the “reminder event” hasoccurred or for tracking the historical occurrence of such events.

In some embodiments, an effect of this configuration is to create adevice that alerts its user at times that are essentially completelyunpredictable and follow a random statistical distribution. Among otherthings, this can be very useful to the user because, e.g., the user can,thus, be taught to mentally associate the triggering of the device witha particular idea, goal, and/or outcome that they wish to remember or bereminded of. Among other things, the spontaneous nature of the alert canhelp to draw the user's attention back to something that they otherwisemay have forgotten about or have been unaware of in the particularmental state that they were in when the device initially went off.

In addition to this usage in the foregoing paragraph, as indicatedherein, there has been some evidence and data that has shown that arandom source can be influenced by some subtle processes of humanconsciousness. In situations that are rich in emotional content, orgroup interactions, and/or in other circumstances involving humanconsciousness, a random source used in the device can, according to thisresearch and evidence, be more likely to produce outputs that deviatefrom its theoretical physical behavior (e.g., an REG device can, thus,be more likely to deviate from a random behavior due to effects of humanconsciousness). In some embodiments, the device described herein usesalgorithms to measure and detect these deviations, and based on thesedeviations causes the occurrence of or the adjustment of a “reminderevent” in such a way that it is more likely to go off at times that arerelevant to the user.

While some embodiments of this invention relate to uses that are basedon the theories that human consciousness can affect certain randomsources, it should be understood that this illustrative type of use isnot the only form of use possible with such embodiments. For example,the various embodiments of this type are not solely useful for measuringor correlating results to conscious events. That is, the utility of thepresent device does not depend on the accuracy of or the truthfulness ofthis scientific proposition. In particular, one illustrative utility ofthe present device can be to test and/or analyze whether or not humanconsciousness can potentially have an affect on certain random sourcesand the like. In addition, other utility of the present device canrelate to, e.g., encouraging individuals to evaluate certain theoreticalconcepts, such as, e.g., whether one's consciousness has or can affectthings such as, e.g., random events. Moreover, the devices of thepresent invention can also have great utility as fun toys or amusementitems, generating interesting and thought provocative results andoutputs. Some other illustrative examples, can include, e.g., 1) forcreative writing, writing about what one observes in their environmentwhen it buzzes, 2) for parties, hug whoever is closest to you when itbuzzes, or drink a beer when it buzzes, or the like, 3) for psychologyuses, a user can write what they were thinking about when it buzzed andput it into their journal.

These points apply to the utility of all of the embodiments described inthe present application. Thus, while it is understood by the presentinventors that human consciousness does indeed have the ability toaffect certain events, such as, e.g., random sources, the utility of thevarious inventions described herein do not rely solely on suchphenomenon for utility under 35 U.S.C. 101.

Process of Use:

In some embodiments, a device can be configured to carry out thefollowing in the use of the device:

-   -   1. A user configures the device by setting it to an ON state,        and possibly adjusting a switch.    -   2. The user consciously brings to mind or thinks about a        particular “purpose” to associate with the device.    -   3. The user carries the device on their person, perhaps, e.g.,        on a keychain or in a purse/pocket (e.g., the device can have        any form as described in relation to any of the various        embodiments of the present application).    -   4. At some time later, the device provides an “alert” or        “reminder” (as described above) to the user.    -   5. In response to such an alert or reminder, the user performs        some task or action (such as, e.g., enacts or performs a        pre-specified action, thinks about a pre-specified thought,        and/or assesses their surroundings and environment based on the        purpose).    -   6. Repeat at step 3.

Detailed Technical Description:

With reference to FIG. 16, the figure shows a block diagram of anillustrative and non-limiting embodiment depicting basic components ofthe device, including, e.g., an analog noise source, a microcontroller,an input mechanism (such as, e.g., buttons and/or switches), and anoutput mechanism (such as, e.g., one or more LED, a motor and/or thelike).

Analog Source (1):

In some embodiments, a purpose of the provision of an analog source isto generate an electronic output that is fundamentally random and thatclosely approximates a theoretical statistical distribution. By mostdefinitions, the output would be considered to be “truly random” andcontain a form of chaos and/or quantum mechanical uncertainty that makesit different from traditionally pseudo-random sources, which are oftengenerated computationally or from mechanical devices, which can often bemodeled using deterministic physical laws.

In an illustrative particular embodiment of the device, a high ohmresistor fed into the gate of an FET creates a source of thermal noise,which is filtered using passive components and put through a multi-stagetransistor amplifier or op amp for the purpose of amplifying andconditioning the signal so that it can be interfaced with digitalcomponents. In other illustrative embodiments, other methods of buildinga similar source can replace the FET and resistor combination with areverse biased PN junction (e.g., embodied in a diode, transistor, orsemi-conductor), a resistor itself, or an emitter and detector ofphotons.

Regardless of what method is used, this portion of the circuit willpreferably create an analog signal that has an essentially flat noisespectrum over some frequency range. This signal can then be digitizedand sampled using, e.g., a comparator, analog to digital converter, oran equivalent process for the purpose of creating fundamentallyunpredictable bit combinations which can be manipulated with digitallogic. In this document, a generic digitized form of an analog signal isencompassed under the terminology “random source.”

In some preferred embodiments, the analog source can be shielded using aform of shielding (such as, e.g., a conductive metal shield encasing allor part of the pertinent section) to separate it from other portions ofthe circuit and to essentially eliminate or greatly reduce externalphysical interference.

Input (2) and Output (3):

In some preferred embodiments, the device can have a various number ofinputs and outputs, wherein such inputs would generally have the purposeof configuring the device and the outputs would have the purpose ofproviding information to the user, such as, e.g., alerting the user asto the occurrence of a reminder event and/or transmitting data aboutcurrent and previous reminder events to another device, such as, e.g., aserver, personal computer and/or PDA.

In one preferred embodiment of the device, the input can include amulti-state switch, and the output can include a vibrating motor. Insome examples, a first state on the switch would represent an “off”configuration, in which no power is provided to the device, and anotherstate would be to turn the device on and to determine a relativefrequency (e.g., the average or approximate time periods or intervalsbetween events) at which the device should randomly trigger its output.The output/alerting element, which is a vibrating motor in someillustrative embodiments, can provide the user with a buzzing sensationwhenever digital logic module of the device determines that an alertshould be triggered.

It should be appreciated that this embodiment can have a variety ofvariations, such as, e.g., in inputs and/or outputs. By way of example,other variants of this device can include the use of, e.g.,potentiometers, switches, and/or buttons for inputs, and the use ofLEDs, audible indicators, and/or other forms of sensory stimulation foroutputs.

Digital Circuit (4):

Overview:

In some preferred embodiments, the digital portion of the circuitinvolves a microcontroller (e.g., preferably this can involve one in thesmallest possible package that is of least expense and lowest powerconsumption, and preferably one which contains an internal oscillator, apower-saving mode, and a built-in analog-to-digital converter orcomparator). However, the exact type of microcontroller is not criticalto the operation of the device, and for the purposes of cost savings caneven be replaced by, another type of controller, such as, e.g., a customchip or combination of basic digital logic gates accomplishing a similarpurpose.

In the preferred embodiments, the microcontroller serves as the “brain”of the device and is programmed to, e.g., sample data from the analogsource and to perform computations which vary based on the configurationof the attached input devices, which can be any combination of the typesmentioned above in this application. In some embodiments, for example,when it has been determined by a computation that the reminder eventshould occur, the microcontroller activates an output device for thepurpose of alerting the user (e.g., to alert the user to take someaction, perform some task, or to note that something has happened).

In various embodiments, the calculations performed inside themicrocontroller can vary in their implementation, but, in some preferredembodiments, there are two notable purposes of the computation: 1) oneis to cause the device to trigger an alert at an unpredictable time witha high likelihood of occurrence over a particular timescale that may beselected by the user [random time selection], and 2) the other purposeof the computation is to dynamically adjust the time at which thereminder event is triggered based on an analysis of the output of therandom source for the purpose of detecting meaningful events [eventdetection].

Random Time Selection:

In the preferred embodiments, the device is capable of selecting a trulyrandom time to trigger its alert or reminder. Here, the terminology“truly random” means that the time should not be directly predictable.For example, even if a user had knowledge of the algorithms andprocesses that take place in the device, the user should not be able todirectly predict the output timing. In short, the trigger of the eventshould always be a surprise, and barring any unanticipated physicalinfluence or the effects of consciousness, the random time selectorshould select times to go off without any form of bias towards aparticular time. That is, over the time scale in question, there shouldbe essentially the same probability of any one time being selected asany other.

Implementation:

In various embodiments, there are many methods to implement the randomtime selection in software; but, one of the most appropriate fromfunctional and simplicity standpoints is to use the input configurationfor a user to define a maximum-time scale, such as, e.g., an hour (orsome other time period such as, e.g., 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutesor the like). In some embodiments, this value is then multiplied by two,and data from the analog source is sampled into a register containingone or more bits. The decimal representation of these bits is divided bythe theoretical maximum value of the register to create a value thatrepresents the proportion of the value relative to its maximum. Thisvalue is multiplied by time-scale to come up with a representation oftime that ranges from the immediate present to twice the expectedfrequency.

The end result of this illustrative computation represents a number of“time units” in the future at which the device should trigger itsreminder. The value is stored in the internal memory of themicrocontroller, and is adjusted by a periodic countdown sequence aswell as by the event detection process. When the value reaches zero, thereminder event is triggered.

In order to help guarantee uniformity of the selected times, the devicemay process the digital outputs of the physical source in some way, suchas by discarding particular bits or by XORing the digitalized outputwith “mask patterns” that have an equal number of ones and zeros. Thegoal and effect of this is to remove any bias from the analog sourcethat would interfere with each time having the same probability of beingrandomly selected.

Event Detection:

In some embodiments, the output of a truly random physical device candeviate from its chance behavior under the influence of human intentionor when it is exposed to and observed in situations that are emotionallyrelevant to the observer of the output or a group. In some embodiments,the device can detect these deviations in the random source for thepurpose of adjusting the timing of the reminder event such that it mightbe more likely to go off at times which are interesting and relevant tothe user. Once again, although there is substantial scientific evidencein support of this phenomenon, the utility of the device is not solelydependent on this phenomenon, such as, e.g., discussed above.

In some embodiments, the general principle of operation for this featureis that the analog source being sampled roughly approximates a perfecttheoretical statistical distribution in that its output has expectedvalues when sampled. By comparing the statistical properties of theactual samples to their theoretical distributions, it becomes possibleto detect when the process underlying the random source is behaving inway that would not occur by chance [e.g., an “anomalous deviation”] andto subsequently modify the behavior of the overall device appropriately.

As a general rule, a process employed for the detection of anomalousdeviations will either be looking for a) an indication of order in aparticular random bit stream (such as, e.g., the presence or absence ofpatterns, auto-correlation, comparisons to other bit streams or randomtemplates, and/or structures within the data), or b) for an indicationthat the random source is producing output that would be improbably dueto chance (e.g., by performing statistical calculations that compare theactual data with a theoretical or empirical expectation.)

In some embodiments, the detection of anomalous deviations provides thedevice with a richer range of characteristics than a standard randomreminder process would on its own. For example, the device maintains itsrandom reminder characteristics, but becomes more responsive tocircumstances in the environment and/or the intention of its user orothers. Moreover, the mere fact that a user will focus on thepossibility that the reminder is somehow responsive to circumstances inthe environment and/or the intention of its user or others, will leadtowards greater mental effort at correlating such a reminder withcircumstances at hand (i.e., helping to demonstrate additional utilityof the device regardless of whether one appreciates the validity of theunderlying principles and theories).

In the preferred embodiments, a core of the event detection process isthat it looks for deviations from chance in what would otherwise be,e.g., an ordered or structured physical process.

In the preferred embodiments, the event detection operation alsoprovides a more subtle feature which is that even in the absence of atruly anomalous deviation, it allows the random time selection processto be updated in real-time and adds additional degrees of freedom in theprocess. For example, in the implementation described above, the maximumtime between reminder events would be twice the selected time scalefrequency. By using the event selection method, the device becomescapable of going off at times that are outside of the frequency range.

Implementation:

In some embodiments, as with the random time selection portion of thiscircuit, there are a number of ways to implement the detection of theanomalous event as well as how to implement it into the existingcircuit. Some illustrative methods of detecting anomalous deviations caninclude:

The step of sampling a number of bits from the random source andcounting the excess or deficit of a particular bit (1 or 0) and addingthis output to an accumulator. When the accumulator reaches a particularvalue that would not be obtained often by chance, the microcontrollercan be configured to determine that it is an indication of an anomalousoutcome.

In some embodiments, if a deviation is detected in any of theseprocesses, the value of the countdown timer is adjusted so that it hasthe effect of moving the event alert further from or closer to the timeat which the computation on the analog output took place.

As a general rule, samples that are deemed to contain more order or thatare less probable by chance will have a larger impact on the adjustmentof the timing of the reminder event. In a special case, an extremelyimprobable or ordered event sampled from the random source can cause thereminder alert to trigger immediately by, e.g., setting the value of thecounter in memory to zero.

When the value stored in memory reaches zero, either due to the naturalcountdown process or because it has been accelerated by the progressionof random events, the microcontroller activates the alert circuitry fora period of time, and, in some examples, this can involve the userenabling or responding via an input for the purpose of acknowledging thealert.

Form Factor:

In some embodiments, the circuit described above is preferably housed ina stand-alone case that is as small and portable as is possible andconvenient to the user. In some preferred embodiments, the devicemeasures less than 2 inches×2 inches×0.5 inches, and in some embodimentsabout 1.25″×1.00″×0.25″ or less. It is well within the realm of standardtechnology to reduce the device in size substantially so that it caneasily and non-obtrusively be carried around by its user.

In other embodiments, another rendition of the device involves takingthe circuit described above and incorporating it into an existingportable electronic device, such as a PDA (such as, e.g., an iPHONE, aBLACKBERRY, a PALM device or the like), cellular phone, an audio orvideo player (e.g., an MP3 player), a pedometer, and/or a wristwatch. Insuch cases, the device can have this additional circuitry built-in usingadditional components, fabricated into an existing chip, added as astand-alone chip, and/or a variant of the above method could be carriedout or implemented in software using a pseudo-random bit generator or bysubstituting the analog source with some type of other physical signalalready available to the device.

Uses:

In some embodiments, one or more of the following uses can be achievedwith embodiments of the invention:

1. As a general reminder of a concept.

For example, in some embodiments, the user associates the trigger of thedevice with the purpose of remembering to think about a particularconcept (such as, e.g., a) to work on, think about a college admissionsessay, b) to focus on their mental state (e.g., to remind oneself tothink positive thoughts), c) to perform an act of kindness to aparticular individual or set of individuals, etc.). For example, with a)above, when the device goes off, the user could, e.g., take time out toreflect on the answer to the essay question.

2. As a tool to engrain an idea into the subconscious or to facilitatethe training of breaking of a habit. For example:

-   -   a. A person seeking to have lucid dreams would ask themselves        “Am I Dreaming?” whenever the alert is triggered. Among other        things, the random timing and nature of the device helps the        asking of this question to become built into the subconscious        mind—e.g., by not occurring on recurring and predictable        intervals, one cannot essentially get into a complacent mode        under which one relaxes ones efforts in between alerts and does        not keep their mental efforts and required actions in mind. In        addition, because the alert is under theory described above,        tied to consciousness, there is a potential that the timing of        this alert would be advantageous for inducing of lucid dreams        (i.e., lucid dreaming is essentially a state in which during a        reposed or sleeping condition one's mental focus becomes present        sense and essentially perceives a dream while realizing that one        is in such a state of consciousness). Moreover, the mere fact        that a user may believe that this relationship can exist (i.e.,        contemplates this possibility) can lead a user to be much more        cognizant of this alert than in cases in which the alert is        merely being provided on some otherwise non-critical periodic        time period. That is, the initiating of the alert will instill a        high degree of attention and focus due to the potential and/or        believed or contemplated potential for significance or        correlation to consciousness.    -   b. A person with the goal of exercising and getting into shape        does a number of pushups or some other activity when the device        goes off. Once again, this reminder can have advantages over        mere periodic reminders at some pre-set intervals. Here, again,        there is a real or perceived correlation to consciousness that        can create a greater degree of importance, meaning and/or a        user's belief or focus on the particular alert and the task to        be performed. Moreover, the mere fact that such may be possible        creates a degree of whimsicalness and intrigue that increases        enjoyment in performance of the task or activity.    -   c. When the device goes off, the person checks to see if they        are or have been engaging in a particular habit or activity. If        they have been, it is to be taken as negative reinforcement.        Fear of the device going off at later times and the reminder of        the desire not to enact the habit helps to prevent the user from        engaging in the habit—such habits can include, e.g., biting        one's nails, thinking critically of others, feeling distrustful        of others, eating snacks, etc.

3. As a tool to aid in psychotherapy or counseling. For example:

-   -   a. Person trying to resolve feelings of anger towards another or        control a particular emotion.    -   b. Marriage counseling, remembering to think of a particular        idea or concept. During counseling, the therapist works with        each user to identify a core issue that should be remembered, or        an action that should be undertaken when the device is        triggered. An unaffectionate husband might be encouraged to say        something kind to his wife when the device goes off, or to ask        if he has been behaving lovingly.

4. As a tool to aid in creative writing.

When the device is triggered, the user takes note of the environmentaround them and begins a writing exercise designed to hone his or herskills.

5. As a tool to aid in self-assessment and emotional understanding. Forexample, a person keeps a journal with them and writes down their stateof mind or what they are doing whenever the device is triggered.

6. As a tool to modify one's belief systems and method of thinking. Aperson associates an idea or goal relating to their thought processes tothe triggering of the device. For example, “I will think happythoughts.” When the device is triggered the person takes notice of theirframe of mind and subsequently adjusts their attitude so that it isaligned with the pre-stated goal. As another example, an individual thatdoes not appreciate the degree of negative thinking that they currentlyengage in can be made to evaluate their thinking upon such an alert and,in particular, whether they are engaged in negative thoughts. In suchcases, over time, a user may come to appreciate their over negativityand change their behaviors towards thinking more positively.

7. As a tool for recognizing the importance of particular events orcircumstances. For example, the user has the subconscious goal oftriggering the device at times where they should be more introspective,or where they should be less introspective, or when it is time tocomplete a task or when it is time to take a break.

8. As a tool for reminding the user of nothing specific or to have afocus on the present. For example, causing the user to be aware of theuser's surroundings, even at a random moment, keeping a user alert whiledrive a car, and the like. For example, this could even be helpful forathletes that need to maintain a very present sense of focus and toavoid over evaluation and/or anger and/or the like.

Alternate Embodiments

In various embodiments, the above device can be modified or built uponin a number of ways to increase its functionality. Some examples are asfollows:

1) In some embodiments, the device can be modified to handle more thanone “alert” by varying its output (e.g., an audio output can playdifferent tones to alert the user of different things; an LED output canhave various colors to alert the user of different things; a tactile orvibrational output can change the frequency or the duration or patternof its buzzing.) In some embodiments, the device could also include adisplay screen (e.g., an LCD screen) and/or a voice synthesizer chipthat conveys a particular message and/or information relating to one ormore reminder(s).

2) In some embodiments, the mode of input to the device can be modifiedto include a more complex digital input, such as a configuration thatinvolves a touch-screen, keypad, and/or interface with anothercontroller device.

3) In some embodiments, a memory can be added to the microcontroller forthe purpose of tracking data generated by the device and the timing andoccurrence of reminder events.

4) In some embodiments, the device can use one or more wired or wirelessinterfaces, such as, e.g., Bluetooth, USB, TCP/IP, and/or some othermethod of interfacing with another device or computer, such as, e.g., apersonal computer (PC) for the purpose of, by way of example:

-   -   a) Configuring the device with software from the PC.    -   b) Sending data regarding the output of the device to the PC.

5) In some embodiments, the analog portion of the circuit can containtwo or more random signal generators for the purpose of better detectingthe influence of consciousness or the like on the device. In the case ofthis configuration, the calculations employed can look for a combinationof covariance, auto-correlation, and/or other structural similarities inthe output streams of the two analog sources.

Online Alerter:

In some preferred embodiments, the foregoing alerter embodiments can bemodified such that the alert or reminder system is made remote. Forexample, rather than carrying around an electronic device which buzzes,the user can, e.g., log into a web page (e.g., via a PDA, cell phone,lap-top or portable computer, desk-top computer or the like),establishes an account, and provides their telephone number (e.g., cellphone) or email address (and/or other contact information). Then, inuse, based on the output of an REG connected to a server whose detailsare not necessarily known to the user, the person can be deliveredparticular alerts or messages, such as, e.g., receiving text messages(e.g. SMS messages or e-mails) on their cell phone, PDA or computer(such as, e.g., at times determined as in the above-described alerterembodiments. Furthermore, in some embodiments, these messages do notonly need to occur at seemingly random times that are meant to pique theinterest and curiosity of the user, but the messages themselves can bealternately or additionally randomly selected and drawn from a pool ofmessages (e.g., such as, e.g., messages that can be previously selectedor entered by the user themselves via a web interface).

In some implementations, this embodiment also expands on the priordescribed alerter embodiments in that the user can engage in abi-directional communication with the alerter process. For example, whena text message (e.g., an SMS or e-mail) is received by the user on theircomputer or cell phone, the user can, in some embodiments, respond witha message (e.g., containing information about what they were doing atthe time of the message, or something possibly aligned with theirintention/purpose in receiving the alerts), and this reply can be storedand cataloged in a database alongside the messages that were sent to theuser. (Notably, as should be appreciated based on this disclosure, theforegoing non-online embodiments could also be modified to include thisfunctionality (and/or other functionality described herein) in otherexamples.)

In some embodiments, the user can also use an online interface to viewtheir alert history (e.g., a time-stamped and dated list of all datesand times that messages were sent to them, along with the nature of themessage, and the message that the user sent back to it), to addadditional comments, background information, and/or to add explanationsor stories related materials to their alerts, and to share their alertsand stories with others (e.g., in an online forum or the like), who candecide to make comments on these alerts and stories, and/or rate them orshare them with friends (e.g., in such an online forum or the like).

In some examples, a revenue model related to the above service can beoperated so as to charge the user for each alert received, bill them ona periodic (e.g., monthly) basis for access to the system, or chargebased on the overall amount of usage (e.g., bandwidth, REG time usedand/or based on some other measure of usage.)

4. Embodiment Set “IV” A System and Interface for Scheduling theCollection of Data from a Random Event Generator and Analyzing it toFind Correlations with Human Events that Occur in Relation to that Datafor the Purpose of Optimizing Decision Making Processes

Overview:

A system and/or method for scheduling the collection of data from arandom event generator and analyzing it to find correlations with humanevents that occur in relation to that data for the purpose of optimizingdecision making processes.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a web basedsystem where users can login to enter information about activities orevents that are scheduled to occur at a time in the future. Based on theinformation entered by the user, a server, which can be in a remotelocation or exist in software on the user's own computer, begins tocollect data from one or a plurality of attached random event generatordevices and stores that data in a file or database and indexes it to belinked with the user's scheduled events.

After the data has been collected and stored, results are presented tothe user in an easy to read format, such as in an automaticallygenerated e-mail with an audio visual attachment and made available forfuture retrieval in a database accessible via a web based system. Theuser can log into their account and share this data with others,categorize the data according to subjective experiences, perform moredetailed analyses with a suite of web based tools, or add notes andadditional information that is related in time to that which was alreadycollected. Advanced embodiments of the system make it possible toconduct a detailed correlation analysis between data from multiple userswho attended similar events or categories of events, and between otherinformation technology systems which may be relevant to an organization.

The purposes of this system are varied; but one notable use is to takethe data that comes out of the system and use it as an objectivemeasurement (e.g. including graphs, numbers, quantitative data, andanalysis subject to predetermined methods) of subjective (e.g.emotional, aesthetic, and interpersonal) events that transpired duringthe time of data generation, and use the objective measurement to modifyone's decision making processes in a tangible way. Other reasons forusing the system would be to conduct scientific research on the extentto which human activity can influence the output of a random system; toobtain a visual representation of interpersonal happenings; to provide amethod for inspiring creativity and reflection onto happenings; or toallow data-centric organizations to have an additional layer of datapoints which may have correlates with human interactions and may bemined in conjunction with other data and put to use to some profitableend.

The system can also include an online community, which is built aroundit with the goal of encouraging users to share their data andexperiences with one another in a way that leads to mutual learningand/or builds friendships. Technology from this system may also beintegrated into other online communities, knowledge bases, or built intothe communications infrastructure of a particular business ororganization.

In summary, some of the notable aspects of some embodiments include: 1)that the user schedules the collection of data or sets a process intomotion ahead of time without having to worry about the details orcarrying around proprietary equipment; and 2) that the user communicateswith the system remotely, both at a technical level and at the level ofan effect.

Further Background Discussion:

Due to the increasing interest in the idea that the mind can affect thephysical world, the research of the Princeton Engineering AnomaliesResearch Lab, and the Global Consciousness project; numerousphilosophical discussions and research projects have begun to take shapein which the experimenters test the concept that Random Event Generatorsmay produce non-random (e.g. those which deviate from their expectedchance behavior) outputs at times that correlate with significanthappenings in the world and/or one's own life.

Some time ago, the present inventor created a system (known as thePsyleron REG-1 Package) which, for the purposes of providingentertainment, increasing the efficiency of data collection processes,reducing the cost of experiments, and creating opportunities to allow auser (or many users) to experiment with this consciousness driven randomevent generator phenomena in their own life without having to purchaseexpensive equipment or install and manage a detailed software andanalysis system as has been historically required in other contexts.

The new invention, as described in this document, builds on andsurpasses the prior system by adding new features, being optimized toprovide benefit in specific users, and extending it to an onlineplatform that involves the collection of data from a remote random eventgenerator (REG) device or devices that are connected to server. Thesystem also gives the user the ability to schedule the automatedcollection of data to be accomplished at a future point in time, so thatthey need not always remember to carry around equipment for the sake ofmaking a measurement at an event.

Another feature of the system is that some embodiments are designed tointerface with other data collection processes or devices (e.g. cellphones, personal digital assistances, PowerPoint slide advancers, orsecurity and monitoring devices), and is capable of capturing thereal-time output of these devices in a way that provides additionalinformation about the user's environment that will aid in correlationalanalysis after the experiment has been completed.

The cumulative impact of these changes is to reduce or eliminate thefixed costs associated with previously available systems, and to providethe user with an enhanced ability to use the system for the purposes ofascertaining information about or making decisions relating to theirbusiness processes and personal life. As research articles support theidea that there is a connection between the output of REG devices and asense of “connection” or “resonance” between the observer of the dataand his or her experience, this system allows an unprecedented level ofanalysis capability when such measurements could be useful to decisionmaking processes.

Furthermore, the technology used in some embodiments of this inventionsimply the data analysis process by removing a layer of interpretationfrom the user. Whereas users of past systems were presented with onlyraw statistics and numbers, this invention is capable of providingvisual (e.g. textual, graphical) indicators of data segments within anexperiment that may be of particular relevance to the user.

Further Discussion Regarding Background Art:

The Global Consciousness Project

The global consciousness is an online system for collecting data fromthe output of random event generators (REGs) scattered around the worldand attached to local computers. These REGs, which exist in multiplelocations, feed their data back to a centralized server, which processesthe data as part of an experiment to look for correlations withhappenings in the national news. The preferred embodiments can employaspects of such a global consciousness project system; however, somenotable differences from that system are listed below.

-   -   1. The GCP has single REGs in many locations, which feed their        data back to a central server. While the invention can embody        multiple servers, in its base form it is comprised of one REG        (but can be a plurality or many REGs) at a single location being        fed to one server.    -   2. The purpose of the GCP is to measure global events without        any particular intention. In the preferred embodiment of the new        system, individual users have their own intentions or lack of        intention, and the goal is to measure events which are        “local”—e.g., in the sense that they are relevant to individual        users.    -   3. The GCP is meant to measure global events and looks for a        similar effect across or between devices with the primary        correlate being time. On the other hand, the preferred        embodiments of the present system measures the experiences and        events of individual users, and so data is considered to be user        specific. Data generated at parallel points in time may be        associated with different users and therefore different        purposes.    -   4. In seeking to measure global events, the GCP aggregates the        data from many devices into a single virtual stream (e.g. an        analysis process or deviation graph). However, this system is        based on a model which says that the observer of the data        influences the outcome, which implies that data from separate        streams of the same device can have very different        characteristics. The primary correlate with these        characteristics, based on research studies, can be an element of        the observer's (User's) intention or subjective experience.    -   5. The GCP is a closed system run by private experimenters who        ask those holding the REG devices to attempt not to influence        the device. On the other hand, in this system, the        “experimenters” are the individual Users, and they have an        implicit goal to influence the device vis-á-vis the fact that        they are attempting to measure something in their own life and        are seeking a personal response.    -   6. Information about real time events can not be added to and        stored in conjunction with the accumulated data for decision        making purposes.

FieldREG Publications

Work done by the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research lab suggeststhat group interactions might influence the output of REGs. The relevantpublications are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties,as though recited in full, and are listed below:

-   1. Nelson, R. D., Bradish, G. J., Dobyns, Y. D., Dunne, B. J.,    Jahn, R. G., FieldREG Anomalies in Group Situations (1996). J.    Scientific Exploration, 10, No. 1, pp. 111-141;-   2. Nelson, R. D., Jahn, R. G., Dunne, B. J., Dobyns, Y. D.,    Bradish, G. J, FieldREG II: Consciousness Field Effects Replications    and Explorations (1998). J. Scientific Exploration, 12, No. 3, pp.    425-454.

Some notable finding of these studies is that the random event generatordevices, brought into particular venues involving human experience, seemto show striking departures from their chance behavior.

Psyleron Internal FieldREG Studies

To date, an organization owned and managed by the inventors of thedescribed system has found that these departures from chance in a randomevent generator may provide information that can aid in decision makingby emphasizing those points in time where observers feel a particularemotional or subjective reaction (e.g. excited, enthusiastic, or“resonant) with a presented idea, group, person, or concept.

Remote REG experiments

Publications by researchers have been created which show that theeffects which have been demonstrated on an REG can occur remotely—e.g.,that a positive result can be obtained even when the devices are not inproximity to their users. Such publications are listed below, and areincorporated herein by reference in their entireties, as though recitedin full:

-   1. Experiments in Remote Human/Machine Interaction. (1992). J.    Scientific Exploration, 6, No. 4, pp. 311-332;-   2. Consciousness and Anomalous Physical Phenomena (1995). PEAR    Technical Note 95004, May 1995.

Patents.

The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,064, Bradish, et al., 1998, for an“Apparatus and method for distinguishing events which collectivelyexceed chance expectations and thereby controlling an output” isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety, as though recited infull.

Patent Applications.

The entire disclosures of each of the following co-pending provisionalapplications of the present inventor, J. Valentino, are incorporatedherein by reference as though recited herein in full: Ser. No.60/986,954 (filed on Nov. 9, 2007); Ser. No. 61/012,434 (filed on Dec.9, 2007); and Ser. No. 61/014,941 (filed on Dec. 19, 2007). Theseapplications emphasize, among other things, the concept and use ofcorrelating a random event generator output with real world events forthe purpose of decision making; this present application, among otherthings, adds to and strengthens that finding.

Discussion of the Preferred Embodiments of Set “IV”

The preferred system is comprised of many components, which can beeither virtual in the sense that they exist as part of the same computer(such as, e.g., as software modules, routines or the like components),or physical in the sense that each component of the system represents adifferent machine or process connected to another via some physicalmeans (e.g. wires, a network, or a connection on a circuit board.). FIG.19 provides a visual outline of a system in accordance with someillustrative embodiments.

-   -   1. Client/User—The client is a person who accesses the system        for the purpose of recording data and entering information about        real world events (e.g. the time and date of an event or        meeting, a comment about what occurred at a particular time        during that meeting, or subjective notes regarding a response        before and/or after the event.)    -   2. Client Device—A device, such as a personal computer, cell        phone, PDA, or proprietary embedded system utilizing a        microprocessor, memory, display, and input devices for the sake        of allowing the user to communicate with the application server        for the purpose of controlling the scheduling system, receiving        data from the random event generators, manipulating data, and/or        receiving analysis to present it to the User.    -   3. Client Interface System—The means by which the client device        communicates with the application server to achieve the purposes        or enact the steps required to fully use an embodiment of the        invention.    -   4. Web (or “Application”) Server—A machine or process, in some        embodiments a personal computer, that takes requests from the        User and provides feedback and messages back to them. This sever        is responsible for coordinating and sending data between the        user and other systems (e.g. those described below) and also for        maintaining information regarding user accounts and sending        email notifications to users. In some embodiments, it may be        connected to external sub-systems (e.g. those necessary to        connect with a cellular phone network to receive SMS messages)        for the purpose of interacting with users.    -   5. Scheduler System—The scheduler system is a component of the        system which takes requests from the application server        containing information about the times at which a user hopes to        schedule a session. The scheduler communicates with the REG        Server System to learn about the number of available devices, is        responsible for collecting data from the REGs, and also        generates text, data, and image files to be stored in the data        storage system.    -   6. REG Server System—This component of the system interfaces        with a random event generator (e.g., single, or many, or a        separate virtual server containing single or many random event        generators) as well as the Scheduler system. Its primary purpose        is to keep track of how many devices are available for use, the        status of each device, and to provide the Scheduler with the        functionality that it needs to control the generators.    -   7. Random Event Generator(s)—A single random event generator        such as those described in other background art; or an embedded        device comprised of a microcontroller, memory, and one or more        analog circuits specifically designed for the purpose of        generating truly (physically) random bits and serving them out        to multiple users for the purpose of detecting the influence of        consciousness. In some embodiments, the random event generator        may be any probabilistic quantum mechanical system which        produces a signal that can be fed to a computer for the purpose        of measuring consciousness (e.g. with the intention of        generating data which may be correlated to states of the human        mind, or of a group consciousness.)    -   8. Data Storage System—This element of the system, which can be        embodied by a database engine on a computer that is the same as        the application server, or its own standalone machine is used to        store both the raw and processed data generated by the random        event generators in conjunction with the user experiments. When        the Application server needs to request an image or data to be        displayed by the User who is accessing the system through the        client interface, it makes a request to the data storage system        to find and retrieve the necessary data.

Abbreviated Usage Process (User Interface):

The following description provides an example of how a user couldinteract with the system, in some illustrative examples, for the purposeof providing additional clarity into the nature of the inventionaccording to some embodiments;

-   -   1. The user logs into an online system [see, e.g., FIG. 20].    -   2. The user provides information about the event that they wish        to collect data about. [see, e.g., FIGS. 21 and 22] This        information contains things such as the start time and end time        of the event, the name of the experiment, and any preliminary        summary information (e.g. a description of the event, pre-event        hypotheses or ideas.) When finished, the user clicks a “submit”        button, which adds the session to a database table or file entry        and passes the information along to the Scheduler system.    -   3. [A background process on the server continuously monitors the        database table or file to determine if an event has been        scheduled at or near the current time.]    -   4. [At the time that a scheduled event has been said to begin        occurring, a program begins to collect data from an REG and        begins accumulating data to a separate file or database.]    -   5. [This file or processed by a proprietary piece of software on        the server, which automatically generates a picture file and        some textual feedback conveying information about the result to        the user. The file is e-mailed in an intelligently but        automatically generated e-mail message.]    -   6. If the user's account has been configured to allow for it        [not shown], the user receives the e-mail message when the event        has concluded [see, e.g., FIG. 23]] and is given a link to        connect to the web page [see, e.g., FIG. 24].    -   7. If the link is clicked, the user is brought to a portion of        the web system [see, e.g., FIG. 26] that makes it possible for        them to archive the data, add keyword tags to it [see, e.g.,        FIG. 27], and share it with other users [see, e.g., FIG. 28].        All of these manipulations alter fields in the database.    -   8. The user can also analyze and compare prior sessions using an        online tool. For example, all previously recorded data elements        with the keyword “lunch” can be compared side by side and a        cumulative statistical analysis of lunches can be presented to        compare lunches with other data segments.    -   9. When data is shared with another user, that other user        receives a notification on their own login screen [see, e.g.,        FIG. 20] and the data is accessible from their analysis        archives.

This usage description focuses on the physical attributes of the systemand its use but, for simplicity, neglects how a user might use thesystem to aid in their decision making process, or how a more detailedanalysis may be conducted on that data.

Abbreviated Usage Process (Decision Making—User Side):

The following description provides an example of how a user can interactwith some embodiments of the system, provided that they understand theabove steps. The purpose of providing the illustrations is to provideadditional clarity into the nature of the invention according to someembodiments, specifically those which involve augmenting adecision-making process.

These examples are representative of only a sampling of the number ofuses for the invention;

In Selling a Product:

-   -   1. The user sets up an experiment as in Steps 1-2 above, setting        the start time and end time as those times at which he will give        a presentation of four potential advertising campaigns        (“products”) to a customer.    -   2. During a PowerPoint presentation at the scheduled date and        time, the user pushes a button on his PDA to advance the slides        forward, and a message is sent to the application server noting        that this user has marked new segments at the times that the        button was pressed.    -   3. When the user returns home and receives his e-mail as in Step        #6 above, he can easily identify which portions of the graph        correspond to each slide in his presentation.    -   4. If the user finds that the graph corresponding to a        particular product is denoted as having particular statistical        significance (e.g. the textual messages or statistical        indicators in the e-mail attachments that he receives note that        there was significant activity corresponding to the pitch of a        particular product); he requires that his staff spend more time        developing this product and talking with the customer about it        than the others.

Determining Subjective Response to an Environment:

-   -   1. The User, who is in the process of looking for jobs at a        number of companies, follows the steps outlined in the        abbreviated usage (user interface) portion described above and        schedules experiments for each of the days that she will spend        visiting the facilities of and meeting with potential employers.    -   2. After having received e-mails for each of the scheduled        experiments, the user compares her feelings about the companies        with the levels of significance indicated during each visit.    -   3. If the user is unsure or split with regards to deciding on        which job to take, she takes the indications of significance to        mean that a particular job is a better fit for her, and makes        the decision accordingly.

Assessing the Performance of a Person, Product and/or other Item:

-   -   1. The User, who seeks to make a decision that hinges on the        emotional responses of a crowd or group to a particular        “product” (such as an audience's response to a performer, or a        focus group's response to a potential product packaging),        follows the steps outlined in the abbreviated usage (user        interface) portion described above and schedules experiments for        each of the days that she will spend visiting the facilities of        and meeting with potential employers.    -   2. After watching the event or pitching the products, the User        looks to see if a particular performer (such as a singer on        American Idol) produced a statistically significant deviation or        ordering of the random output.    -   3. The significance is taken to be a measure of emotional        response to the product, and the user weights this information        into their judgment of the candidates.

Notes on Decision Making Usage Process:

-   -   1. Rather than looking for pure statistical significance (e.g.        deviations from chance behavior in the mean output of the random        event generator), in some embodiments, the textual report        presented to the user may indicate a deeper description        regarding the data by describing characteristics such as        “resonant,” “dissonant,” “neutral,” “excited,” etc. These        determinations are made based on analysis of the data and        primary comments or surveying accumulated by the user; as per        provisional application Ser. No. 60/986,954 incorporated by        reference above.    -   2. An indication of significance need not always mean something        positive with regards to the intended use. For example, a        presenter may believe that a negative (e.g. downward sloping        cumulative deviation graph) going trend-line in their data means        that they should not dedicate additional resources to a project,        but rather drop it all together. The decision is highly        subjective (and may be pre-stated, e.g. on the user interface        page, in some embodiments of the invention) and is dependent on        the user's intention and interpretation of their data.    -   3. It is pre-supposed that the user's relationship to the        experiment and the process plays a large role in this process,        so introspection and thinking about the data may be necessary.        (A supplemental part of this invention is a set of workshops or        training materials which help users to learn to generate better        data.)    -   4. Some embodiments of the system will support capabilities        meant to aid the user in reflection and decision making on their        data. For example, the user may enter information (sometimes        referred to as “Ad-hoc comments”) into the system about how they        felt during certain periods of the experiment. In later analyses        of other experiments, this data on emotions and feelings will be        available to aid in decision making.

Illustrative Implementation:

This section sets forth an illustrative preferred method of implementinga system according to some preferred embodiments and capable of carryingout some or all of the previously described use case scenarios.

Client.

In some examples, the client is a person or entity who wishes to conductan experiment using the output of a random event generator, most likelyfor the purpose of correlating its output with some kind of physicalhappening and using the generated output for the purpose of making adecision.

Client Device.

In some examples, the client device is a personal computer with Internetaccess and a web browser capable of processing HTML and submitting formsto a server. The client enters a URL, such ashttp://www.psyleron.com/LifeREG/ into his browser and is given access tothe user interface of the server. A secondary client device to be usedis a PDA (personal digital assistant) with wireless internet access andthe ability to run a Java applet. In the described embodiment, the useruses the personal computer to schedule and analyze their experiment, butthe PDA device to transmit data in real time.

Application Server.

In some examples, the server is a computer running software capable ofhosting a web page that can be accessed by any HTML compatible webbrowser. Some embodiments of the invention can employ Microsoft Windows2003 server software and Microsoft Internet Information Services alongwith a custom software platform designed for the system and built onASP.NET.

Sub-components:

Web Interface.

A web page written in, e.g., ASP (Active Server Page) allows the user tolog in and carry out the steps listed above. When the user schedules hisevent, it is entered as a record in a database table (referred to as theScheduling Database) using a database engine (e.g. MySQL, Postgres, MSSQL), which can be stored on any server machine within the system, or ona virtual “Database System” which may be made up of many machines,components, or processes.

For the additional feature of adding real time information during thecourse of the experiment, in some embodiments, the Web Server machineruns a custom service (“real time data collection service” or RTCS) inthe background which listens for TCP/IP traffic on a port that isuncommonly used by other applications. If the client wishes to transmitdata with his client device (such as a PDA), he starts his own customclient application (e.g. A program running on the PDA which issuesTCP/IP commands to the server; or a web browser on the cell phone or PDAwhich connects to a specific page on the application server for thepurpose of controlling an experiment), which authenticates itself on theRTCS and, if a scheduled experiment is running, is able to acceptcommand from that client device.

Using TCP/IP (in some embodiments), the client sends a control packetdenoting which function should be carried out (e.g. “Add Comment,” “NewSegment,” “Mark Data,” “Abort Experiment,” “Extend Experiment”) as wellas one or more data packets (e.g. the nature of the comment, theextension time) and the server stores this information in a temporaryfile (“user and session specific temporary data file”) to be accesslater.

REG Scheduler.

In some embodiments, the REG Scheduler, is a custom software applicationwith access to the “Scheduling Database” that is written to by theapplication server. When the REG Scheduler detects that the current timeis approaching the start time of one or more “start times” indicated inthe Scheduling Database, it produces a query to the REG Server to ensurethat there are devices available for the experiment.

If devices are available, the REG scheduler checks their status byissuing a command to the REG server, and it then selects an appropriatedevice based on a priority ranking system. Devices which currently havethe fewest users connected to them (e.g. no data, or the least amount ofdata is being drawn from them at the moment) are given the highestpriority. In the event that a device is represented in the “failuretable,” but not disabled it is given a lower priority than all otherdevices.

When an appropriate device has been selected, the REG Scheduler begins a“calibration period” by issuing a command to the REG Server to collectdata from the device. Rather than being active experimental data, thisdata is considered “calibration data” and is used for the purpose ofassessing the validity of the attached device. If the mean and standarddeviation of the data produced by the device are within +/−2.5 standarddeviations from chance behavior for the sample size collected, thechosen REG device is considered to be legitimate for data collection, ismarked as such in the calibration table, and calibration continues untilthe scheduled start time.

If it fails, the scheduler can try again, and if it fails again, thescheduler makes a note of this failure in a failures table in its owndatabase (which, in some embodiments, can temporarily disable the devicevia a command to the REG server, or lower its priority for futurescheduling) and seeks out an additional device. This process repeatsuntil a suitable device with qualifying data is found, and the schedulerthen locks the device into data collection mode determined by thescheduling data related to the user's session. In some embodiments, the“idle” state of an REG may actually be a state in which the generator isactively collecting data to be stored in a separate calibration or“baseline” database for the purpose of research analysis and qualitycontrol.

Data Processor Sub-System.

When an experimental data collection has been completed, the REGScheduler invokes a “data processor” module, which parses that data forsignificant effects (“parsing”), generates an image file snapshot of thedata to be displayed to the user (“visual feedback generation”), andcreates the appropriate textual messages to correspond to the data(“text generation”). These files and database entries are made for thedata storage system, and a command is sent to the Web/Application servertelling it that the session has been completed and the data stored sothat it may generate an e-mail message to be sent back to the User.

Parsing [REG Scheduler; Data Processor].

The theory of operation underlying the parsing portion of the system isthat statistical significance (assumed by inference from priorexperiments and published research articles to often correspond toperiods of resonance or subjective importance on the part of the user)may occur at many levels or over many time periods within the experimentand that exposing these levels and providing feedback to the user bestallows her to determine what was being detected.

In some embodiments, this analysis only involves one level of parsing,and that is to take each segment of data (e.g. the entire session fromstart to end, as defined by the user when setting up the experiment; oreach portion of data beginning at the first bit generated by the randomevent generator and ending on the trial that occurs at the same time asa comment or segment break entered by the user in real time during theexperiment) and generate a mean and standard deviation for each segment.

For example, to determine the mean, if 1,000 different 200 bit sampleswere collected over the course of the experiment and there were 100,300one bits generated (and by deduction, 99,700 zero bits); the mean numberof one bits produced by the random event generator would be 100.30. Todetermine if this is statistically significant, we can subtract thetheoretical expectation of this average (100) away from it to obtain anumerator of 0.30, multiply by the square root of the number of trials(31.62) and divide by the standard deviation (7.071); yielding ourselvesa Z-Score of 1.34; which is not statistically significant against thenull hypothesis that the random event generator would produce a biasedoutput relative to its chance expectation. (As such, in this embodiment,the textual response to be provided to the user based on the “textgeneration” system would contain a message saying “There is littleevidence that this entire segment produced an output that exceededchance.”)

A major drawback of the above-described parsing method is that, onaverage, it requires that the device be producing a consistent deviationfrom chance throughout the course of the experiment. This can be true insome circumstances and can be a useful first cut approximation to whatis occurring during a session, but it neglects movements and changesthat are likely to occur throughout the experiment based on thesubjective dynamic and intention or mental state of the experimenter.

In other, more sophisticated embodiments of the system, the parser wouldlook not only for a bottom line level of significance across the entireexperiment or segments; but would be sensitive to the number andlocation of comments made, the segment breaks, and any sharp orunexpected “motions” in the data itself.

The next best approximation to achieving this is to calculate a Z-Scoreof the mean (as described above) for each portion of the experiment,where a “portion of the experiment” is defined as a consecutive seriesof data that lies between two time stamps that were marked with amessage about the environment from the user (e.g. a real-time comment, apre-scheduled segment break, a segment break, changes in real-time datafeeds from devices such as microphones and cameras).

These Z-Scores can then be used in a number of ways; in one embodiment,a value is computed for each portion of the experiment as in the priordescription, as is a level of significance. This makes it possible todisplay a text message for each portion of the experiment (such as,“This data is marginally significant” if its Z-Score is within the rangeof 1.69 to 2.25; or “This data is incredibly significant, what were youdoing?” if its Z-Score is greater than 3.65); it also makes it possibleto apply a second level of text processing which applies to the wholeexperiment and comments on the likelihood of having so man significantZ-Scores. For example, with one |Z|>1.69 out of ten segments of data itmight say “Even though some significance was detected, this may be dueto chance” but with five |Z|>1.69 out of six segments, it may saysomething like “Though each piece of data appears to be marginallysignificant, it is very improbable that this occurred by chance. Why wasthe session so active?”

In another embodiment, these Z-Score values are squared an then added toone another for each portion of the experiment available; resulting in achi squared value with a number of degrees of freedom equal to thenumber of portions of the experiment. Using an approximation to computerthe probability value for this Chi-Square, the program is also able touse its text engine to report on a level of significance for the entireexperiment. Unlike the Z-Score measure, if the chi square is seen to beexcessively reduced (Z-Scores too small relative to their number ofdegrees of freedom), the text processor may interpret it as asignificant lack of activity and report that back to the user.

Other variants of the system conduct statistical tests under a similartheory of operation, always looking to determine if any portion of thedata over a period of time appears to be excessively significant. Thegeneral premise of the feedback system is that it should highlightsections of time with levels of detected statistical significance(visually), and present textual feedback to its user reporting on thesignificance of each section.

Some specific analyses that can be tested and used with the system as itdescribed are recursive searches for significant localized Z-Scores,good-ness of fit tests relative to prior data which assumes thatsignificant events would occur at particular moments (or aroundparticular comments) for a category of experiments, area under the curveestimates, change in the slope of the graph, Fourier analysis of thetime series, and entropy calculations at various segments of the data.

Aside from these computations, which rely on comparing the data to somekind of theoretical or empirically determined “null hypothesis,” someembodiments of the system may find it useful to not assume the standardnull hypothesis and instead assume that there can always be an effect inthe data but that it might be specific to individual users or theirsubjective circumstances and/or not appear as a departure from chanceunder most conventional statistical methods. Some examples of analysesto account for these phenomena are described below;

Wave Analysis.

In this embodiment, the component conducting analysis has available toit a bank of previously generated data (from actual experiments, orsynthetically generated) in which there is a known influence due toconsciousness. (E.g., One of the data sets may be a 60 second longsample of data during which the user who generated that data wentthrough a period of intense emotional anger for a known 10 secondinterval. This data, which contains a “wave” can be compared to each 60second subset of the Experimental data to be analyzed using standardgoodness-of-fit tests. The tests indicate a substantial fit betweenportions of the actual experiment and the “anger wave,” then theanalysis may present a message to the user explaining the data it wascompared to and instructing the user to look for similarities.)

The wave analysis method can be enhanced by having a deeper database ofinformation available from the particular operator and by having thatoperator participate in “coding” their data for specific emotions,feelings, happenings, or attributes. This can be done by asking the userto enter their own feedback on a session in a controlled way (which isdifferent from simply entering comments on their experience after thefact) that requires the user to answer key questions and mark keysegments of data prior to receiving any kind of automated analysis fromthe system. The purpose of this is to develop a profile of the user'sexpectations and experiences that is unbiased by knowledge of the actualoutcomes from the device.

Other methods involve having the user run simulated sessions where theyattempt to experience certain emotions or states of mind during datarecording, or allows them to have access to a Random Event Generatordata stream for a prolonged period of time (“attunement period”) withthe intention of tracking their experiences in life. Here, when theyencounter moments of particular importance to them in real life (e.g.,fear, love, jealousy, anger, meeting an important new person) subject tothe characteristics that they hope to capture in their present or futureexperiments, they go back to the system and mark the times of suchevents, blind to the data coming out of the device. At the end of thisprocess, an expert system parses the data under various categories tocreate a profile to which future experiments can be compared to.

In any embodiment of the system, regardless of the analysis method beingused, it is a preferred feature of the system that the parsing analysismethods take into account any subjective or real-time data entered bythe user and weight the analysis factors and outcomes based on thissubjective information. This theory in and of itself is a radicaldeparture from any prior system meant for similar forms of datacollection, as such systems have concerned themselves almost exclusivelywith collecting data for research purposes and have not thought it wiseto risk “contaminating” their data or analysis with subjective inputfrom the user.

Text Generation [REG Scheduler; Data Processing].

The purpose of the text generation portion of the system is to make itmore user friendly and to overcome the learning curve and hurdles thatsome users might experience if they were required to grapple with andinterpret purely numerical and quantitative statistics regarding theirdata. Historically, this type of feature has not been incorporated intorandom event generator systems, as the focus on such systems was toprovide information only to researchers, who were would understand thestatistics produced by such a system and add value to their projects byproviding interpretation.

In some embodiment of the system, the text generation provides textualfeedback that correlates deterministically to the nature of thehypothesis being tested and the probability of that result being due tochance. As an example, an experiment run purely for the sake ofdetermining whether or not there was any indication of subjective“resonance” over the segment of entire data would produce text relatingto a likelihood estimate based on the probability that the mean of thedata came from a population that fit under the hypothesis of no effect.

As a general rule of thumb for this kind of experiment, a result with aprobability of occurring due to chance of less than 1 in 20 can beconsidered “potentially significant”, results with a probability of lessthan in 1 in 500 are considered “likely significant”, and results with aprobability of less than 1 in 10,000 are considered “very significant”,and results with probabilities of less than 1 in 200,000 are considered“extremely significant”. In most cases, textual data is seen as applyingto the level at which the analysis takes place (e.g. the entire session,an entire segment, everything within a particular category ofexperiments) and the textual feedback can also provide scientificqualifiers or frames of reference for data obtained.

For example, if a Z-Score of 3.09 (approximate probability of 1 in1,000) is achieved in the mean over a session tagged as a conversationbetween two people, the textual feedback might say:

-   -   1. “Your results a likely to be significant and represent a        subjective connection” based on the gruel of thumb for        significance criteria, and/or:    -   2. “This means that the likelihood of this result occurring by        chance is 1 in 1,000” based on the scientific qualifier, and/or:    -   3. “Obtaining a result like this would be like buying a three        digit lottery ticket and winning on your first try.”

These are not the only types of messages that can be displayed; butrather illustrative examples meant to describe how a table ofpre-packaged textual feedbacks related to elements of the experiment(e.g. stated purpose, level of significance, and a table of relativeprobabilistic events) might be used to enhance the user experience andreduce the need for detailed analysis.

In other embodiments of the system, the textual feedback may be promptedbased on the prior data of the user. For example, if the user oftenenters keywords such as “sad” when the mean of a segment following acomment in a particular category of experiment [such as a psychiatrysession] goes negative; the system might add a string to its text saying“Does the word [sad] relate to your experience?” This is accomplished bylooking for a pre-packaged but ever-growing set of trends in the data,and using a simple (internal) statistical analysis to determine if aword occurs more often than chance when that event is detected asoccurring.

The intention of this feature in most embodiments is to prompt the userto think more about their experience, remember prior experiences, andlook for trends in the data. It also has tremendous novelty value and,with some users, can be capable of making the user more likely toproduce a certain type of effect in their experiments. That is to say,the user's psychology and expectations is as much a part of this systemas any specific effect in the data. If a user comes to understand (evenat an unconscious level) that a particular feedback is more likely tooccur given an effect in the data, they can affect the data during anexperiment for making that feedback occur to themselves.

Also of noteworthy relevance to this analysis is that the software canpreferably parse the data generated by the random generator to look forstrong localized Z-scores over segments of data. By strong localizedZ-Scores, this includes, e.g., regions of data in time which do notconstitute all of the data collected, but none-the-less show a sharpdeviation from chance for some number of collected samples. The level ofsignificance attributable to these regions may be multiplied by anadjustment factor that controls for comments and segment breaks enteredby the user in that area, as well as the length of the statisticallysignificant string. In the event that such deviations are found, thesystem will store information about the findings and can include anotice to the user that the system detected that something may have beenhappening at the time in question. In such an instance, the user isprovided with a text message (e.g. “What happened here?”) encouragingthem to think more about their subjective experience of the event ortime.

Visual Feedback Generation [REG Scheduler; Data Processing]:

Preferably, at the conclusion of this analysis process, the program alsogenerates one or more graphics files in a common exchange format (suchas, e.g., in this case, .bmp or .jpg) to be viewed by the user, e.g., inhis or her e-mail or with his or her web browser at a later date. Insome embodiments, these files are stored with a 72 byte filename that isgenerated based on a hash function incorporating information from thetext file.

The most common visual feedback generated by this process is a form ofcumulative deviation graph, such as those described in the backgroundart. These graphs can be enhanced, however by adding text from the textgenerating stage, or highlighting data and times on the graph thatcorrespond to significant events detected in the parsing stages.

Final Steps [REG Scheduler].

When the data collection has been completed, the output of the randomevent generator is stored in a binary file, processed for its mean andstandard deviation, and for certain pre-specified patterns and trends.Regarding the pre-specified patterns, if an entire segment of data showsa statistically significant slope (relative to the null hypothesis thatthe data will be purely random) in a single direction over the course ofthe entire experiment, it is considered to be an indication thatsomething special occurred during the entire data collection period. Thesystem makes a mark of this and can include a note to the user that theyshould reflect on what may have made this event special.

E-Mail Notification.

Preferably, when the files and analysis data have been generated, theREG Scheduler communicates with the Web/Application Server and notifiesit that the data collection and analysis has been completed so that itmay be sent via e-mail to the user who started it based on his or heraccount information. This e-mail contains information entered by theuser in the scheduling program (e.g. the name and description of theexperiment, the time that it began and ended), a copy or link to thegraph or image generated by the visual feedback generation system, and,in some embodiments, any textual information generated by the analysisand meant to provide the user with questions or insight into theirexperimental process.

REG Server.

The purpose of the REG server is to serve as an interface between therandom event generator devices and the REG Scheduler system. Its primaryfunctionality is to provide access and to abstract away the detailsregarding how the network of Random Event Generator are physicallyinterconnected and how their data is split, processed, and parsed intostreams in order to be served out to users. It may be embodied in manyways, the first of which is simply a PC with multiple USB hubs andports, each of which connects to a USB based random event generator.

The data server can also be an embedded device comprising amicroprocessor, memory, a network connection (E.g. Ethernet port), and aUSB or a proprietary interface which connects it to one or more REGDevices. This allows many REG devices to be accessible via TCP/IPwithout the use of a full computer per set of devices, and makes itpossible for one physical web server to interact with as many ashundreds or thousands of REG devices as though they were connected tothe same machine. (This example assumes 127 devices per embedded dataserver and as many as 253 IP addresses available to embedded servers.)

One physical REG device can also contain multiple noise source orprocessing modules, making it possible for a single physical device tofunction as many (e.g., dozens or hundreds) of multiple REG devices. Theadvantage here is that physical space is saved as many REGs can beplaced on a single circuit board and redundant electronic components canbe re-used. To make such an implementation practical and rule outexternal noise, these devices should be shielded from one another,should use a heavily filtered power supply that attenuates microvoltlevel fluctuations on the power lines, and should be ideallyelectrically isolated from other devices on the same circuit board usingan opto-isolator or similar connection.

In some embodiments, software components in the REG server may processthe data coming out of individual hardware random event generators, suchas by applying an XOR mask to the data output, by selecting andcombining consecutive bits, or by conducting autocorrelation and entropycalculations for the sake of creating new bits.

Use of Generators.

One special feature that can be used in preferred embodiments of thissystem is driven by our finding that the output from a single randomevent generator device can be split into multiple streams, each of whichis capable of showing effects as though it were an independent andfree-standing random event generator.

This is a break from most traditional concepts of how these effectswork, which suggest an effect on a particular device and/or physicalnoise source. These other concepts may also suggest theories that it isnecessary to have devices running at higher bit-rates or using specialprocessing methods; but our findings and a premise behind this inventionis that each user need only be presented with his/her own independentset of data which represents an indeterminate quantum state. As such:

-   -   1. The output of a single device can be parsed into multiple        streams, with each stream being treated as though it comes from        an independent device.    -   2. There may not be overlap in the streams or the integrity of        the data can be corrupted.    -   3. Correlations between data are likely to occur due to the        overlapping perspectives or associations of the observers rather        than the physical characteristic of the devices themselves.    -   The benefit of understanding this concept and using it in the        system is tremendous, but the key pragmatic issue here is that a        lower cost system can be developed because each single user need        not have his/her own single noise source.

In our current preferred implementation, each single random eventgenerator device (which, in one embodiment, is capable of producing atleast 2,000 bits per second) has its output parsed into ten separatestreams by taking each consecutive bit and assigning it to the next datastream, incrementing the data stream counter until it reaches 10 andthen resetting it back to zero. (This creates ten “virtual” devices,each of which his capable of producing at least 200 bits per second.) Avisual example using 36 bits and 4 different data streams can be seen inFIG. 29.

Functions.

The basic software functions (e.g. commands which may be issued to theserver to carry out a process and return a value) available from the REGServer can be some combination of the following listed functions:

Commands Relevant to all Devices:

In some preferred embodiments, the following commands are relevant toall devices:

-   -   1. GetDeviceList—Returns a list of all of the devices (e.g.        random event generators, modules containing multiple random        event generators, or virtual data streams) available to the REG        server and their status (e.g. in use, calibrating, busy,        disabled, available, etc.)    -   2. DevicesAvailable—Returns the number of devices currently        available for data collection (e.g. not in use, calibrating,        busy, or disabled.)

Device Specific Commands:

In some preferred embodiments, the following device specific commandsare employed:

-   -   1. Open (Device #)—Opens a device and sets its status to in use;        can refer to a specific device or will open and return the next        available device.    -   2. GetData (Device #)—Takes bits or bytes of data from an opened        device that has been specified in the device list.    -   3. Close (Device #)—Makes a device available for other uses.    -   4. GetStatus (Device #)—Returns information about a particular        device (e.g. availability, device serial number, amount of data        generated.)

Processes: Connecting to the REG Server in Some Embodiments:

In some embodiments, the process related to connecting to the REG Servercan include, e.g.:

-   -   1. The client (e.g. REG Scheduler) sends a request to connect        using TCP/IP Remote Procedure Call.    -   2. The server responds to the client, requests authentication.    -   3. The client supplies a user name and password.    -   4. The client requests a list of available devices.    -   5. The client opens a specific device (or devices.)    -   6. The client requests data from that device.

In the above and other examples, a device may be either a physical REGhardware device, or a virtual device (such as a stream of data selectedfrom a selected device, such as, e.g., in FIG. 29)

Expansions:

In some embodiments, some or all of the following expansions (e.g.,other features) can be employed.

-   -   1. In some embodiments, the system can be configured so that a        user can interact with their experiment by using a SMS enabled        cell-phone, or a PDA device in the following ways:        -   a. Experiments can be scheduled by phone.        -   b. Comments can be entered into a running experiment by            sending a text message or editing the web page. These            comments are time-stamped and stored with the existing            sessions. If comments are stored, they are displayed on the            graph which is generated and e-mailed to the users.        -   c. A user can view the progress of an experiment in            real-time via the PDA, phone, or other portable device.        -   d. The REG scheduler and server devices can provide special            control functionality whereby any device utilizing a TCP/IP            protocol on the same network can send commands to mark a            particular session. This is especially relevant for PDA and            cell phone devices, which can run a proprietary piece of            software designed by Psyleron to allow a user to edit and            add comments to their scheduled session while it is in            progress.    -   2. In some embodiments, a user or group can purchase their own        server, hardware, and software system to conduct these        experiments for a specific purpose such as to use it as a tool        for measuring employee efficiency. These embodiments of the        system can be connected to other information technology systems        and computer infrastructure for the purpose of data mining for        correlations with subjective factors, determined by the        intention of the user.    -   3. In some embodiments, groups that are scheduled together can        be pooled or queued such that they are using a particular REG        device. For example, a team of twelve “meditators” attending one        meditation session might prefer that all of their data be drawn        from a single random event generator device. The scheduler        system can accommodate this by marking an entire physical REG        device as scheduled or unavailable.    -   4. In some embodiments, the random event generator network can        be distributed, and premium users can choose to collect data        from random event generator devices in specific locations.    -   5. In some embodiments, the user may send a real-time stream of        voice, video, or other data to the server to be stored in        conjunction with the accumulated random event generator data.        (e.g. A smart phone may use a proprietary piece of software and        a TCP/IP or other networking protocol to upload data from its        built in camera to the application server system, which would        timestamp and store that data alongside the REG session when the        user attempts to analyze it later.)    -   6. In some embodiments, the user interface to the system may        have access to an entire online community built around the        concept that users will want to share their experiences with one        another, post them on the web (e.g., on the Public Internet or a        company intranet accessible via a web browser), and have the        opportunity to build their own web sites (e.g. blogs) which        track their results in particular venues (e.g. lunches, dates,        peace protests, sales meetings, etc.) for the sake of sharing        the information with others.    -   7. In some embodiments, a PowerPoint presentation may be        modified using a scripting language (e.g. visual basic for        applications) so that the application server is informed when        each slide in the presentation is reached. This can be        implemented in at least two ways;        -   a. The power point presentation writes the slide title as            well as a time stamp to a temporary file on the user's PC or            portable device, which is monitored by a sentinel program            (e.g. one that runs in the background); when the file is            updated, the sentinel program sends a message to the remote            server telling it to mark a new segment noting that the            presentation has been advanced.        -   b. The presentation itself may utilize its scripting            language to communicate directly with the server's TCP/IP            interface.    -   8. The expansion in #7 may also be applied to local (e.g.        non-remote) REG recording applications.    -   9. Users may be provided with their own server so that they can        access and control their REG device remotely as in #7 or #8, but        with all of the features of the previously described system.

Terminology Employed:

In this portion of this document, the following terminology is employed.

“Random Event Generator” which refers to, in preferred embodiments, anydevice which generates stochastic and/or probabilistic (in the sensethat they can not be predicted beyond a probability density function andare preferably driven by quantum mechanical measurements) outputs withthe purpose of, by way of example, measuring the influences ofconsciousness (e.g., without wires or a direct physical connection tothe brain), and whose output can be digitized and stored on a computer.

“Database” which refers to any system for storing data in an electronicformat.

Except when referring to prior research studies, “Experiment” is usedloosely to refer to any situation in which a person correlates theoutput of one system with that of another system for the purpose oftesting a hypothesis, making a decision, or asking a question.

Further Discussion Related to Drawings:

The following figures provide, among other things, some illustrativeexamples of what a user might encounter in the online system.

As indicated above, with reference to FIG. 20, the user enters a nameand password associated with their account, which is used to give themaccess to their previously generated data.

With reference to FIG. 24, the main page, as shown, serves as the portalto the user's experimental database and community interactions. Amongother things, it preferably contains messages and alerts from otherusers, the status of recently completed experiments, access to theuser's data archive, and an ability to access or change informationrelated to the user's account.

Although not depicted, an illustrative setup section can also beprovided that allows the user to control options relating to theiraccount, including billing information, groups that they are a part of,and how they would like their e-mail notifications to be configured.

With reference to FIG. 21, as shown in this figure, the user preferablyuses this display interface to enter their activities into a list orinto a calendar like format.

In instances where a fee is being paid for use of the system, a usermight be presented with a confirmation screen, such as, e.g., shown inFIG. 22. After the confirm button is pressed, the web servercommunicates with the Scheduling Server to schedule the event. In thiscase, by way of example, a session lasting for 2 hrs and 45 mins will berun on May 12^(th) of 2007 and the data stored in a database with areference to this particular user.

Implementation Note:

The scheduling system will store its own local copy of informationprovided from the web server, including but not limited to: the user'saccount name, the date of the experimental sessions, and the length ofthe session. The scheduling server uses information about the number ofavailable REGs, the current scheduled usage, historical server loads,and then factors in an additional “cushion” to estimate which REGdevices the scheduled session should connect to. At the specified dateand time (e.g. when the session is scheduled to run), the schedulingserver chooses which device on the network should actually be used bysearching its network of connected devices (which can include manydevices connected to one machine, or a number of single devicesconnected to machines around the world) and collects the needed datafrom it.

With reference to FIG. 23, this figure depicts an illustrative exampleof an E-Mail received from the Auto-Mailer in some illustrativeembodiments. After the completion of a scheduled event, the userreceives an e-mail from the system stating that their data is nowavailable. Preferably, clicking the links in the e-mail will bring theuser to their login page where they can assess the data. Preferably,attached to the e-mail is a graph of the data generated during that timeperiod, and possibly textual summary created by an expert system on thePsyleron server. Preferably, the user can have an option in theiraccount settings to enable or disable the sending of the graph with thee-mail.

FIG. 23(A) shows an illustrative e-mail attachment according to anillustrative example. In this exemplary document attached to the E-Mail,A Cumulative Deviation Graph is shown where the black line representsdata generated by the “active” random event generator during the event.Here, the pink line is representative of “calibration” data taken fromanother device during the same time period. In this illustrativeexample, a user could interpret this graph as showing that the lunch wasparticularly meaningful.

FIG. 23(B) shows another illustrative e-mail attachment according to anillustrative example. This example is similar to the above attachment inFIG. 23(A), but this one contains automated text generated by thePsyleron Data processor. Because the result is significant in thisillustrative example, the illustrative message asks the user to reflecton its meaning. In some embodiments, a more elaborate version of theprogram could recognize keywords related to this graph, such as “lunch”and produce automated information related thereto. For example, thesystem could indicate, e.g., “This is your 5^(th) lunch out of 7 thatshows significant results, which is highly improbable by chance. What isit about your lunches that produces these results?” or other suchmessages.

With reference to FIG. 25, after the user clicks a link to access theirdata, they are brought into the LifeREG portal to view the data and theyalso have the option of editing or otherwise adding information to theirexperiment. By clicking buttons on the toolbar below the graph, the usercan associate keywords with the experiment, type a journal entry orad-hoc comments related to the session, share the session with friends,or receive a link to the experiment that they can post elsewhere on theInternet.

With reference to FIG. 28, a special feature of the system is that it ismeant to be interactive and data can be shared with others. If the datais shared with someone who is already a member of the community, theuser has the option of making their experiment available to the friendin the friend's archive. If the data is shared with a non-member of thecommunity, a user account is created based on the e-mail address, and ane-mail is sent to the friend, allowing them to also have access to thecommunity and the data. In all cases, an alert shows up on the main pageof the person who the data was shared with.

Although not shown in the figures, another feature of the system caninclude that users can analyze prior experiments in parallel to oneanother. For example, all of the data with the keyword “Lunch” can becalled to the screen. For an additional fee, the “raw” data associatedwith an experiment can be downloaded. Analysis allows for otherpossibilities such as, e.g., Monte Carlo simulations of the data, or acomparison of the data to other experiments.

With reference to FIG. 27, keywords are a method of categorization thatallows the user to easily combine and link experiments together. Forexample, the above session has keywords of “Lunch,” “Lawyers,” “Steve,”and “Fun.” Data with any of these keywords can be combined together forthe sake of specific analysis, such as to determine whether or notevents with “Steve” involved share similarities in their data; or todetermine which type of activity in one's life tends to produce the bestresults.

FIG. 27 is also representative of one illustrative example of what Mikecan receive via e-mail and view on his screen regarding his first datewith Sally. The program realizes that the marked segment isstatistically significant because the huge deviation (approximately 384bits over 400 trials) that occurs during this time is very improbable inthe standard output of a random event generator. When Mike realizes thatthe event occurs between the beginning of his philosophy conversationwith Sally (marked by the first blue marker) and the time that she goesfor a bathroom break (marked by the second); he is convinced that it cannot be due to pure chance! What he does with the information is up tohim, but it is a cause for reflection.

The following figures provide block diagrams and illustrative examplesof how some embodiments of various components of the system may functionand operate.

As discussed above, FIG. 19 shows a high level overview of thesub-systems involved in running the system in question according to someillustrative embodiments. Each block in this diagram can represent asoftware component on a physical machine, a separate physical machinedesigned for the particular purpose in question, or a cluster ofmachines. Circles are representative of data storage systems, and arrowshelp to explain what type of information is transferred between thecomponents.

FIG. 19(A) shows a high-level flow chart, relative to physical time, asto how a user might control the system.

FIG. 30 shows the process by which the Scheduler Server receives arequest from the Application Server. The information in the request ischecked against a table of currently scheduled events and internalstatus messages, if the experiment is OK, stores a new record in thetable and sends a success message to the application server.

FIG. 31 outlines the process for monitoring the scheduling table.

FIG. 32 shows the process by which the Scheduler Server “boots-up,” andattempt to connect to an REG server.

FIG. 33 shows the sequence by which the Scheduler Server initializesdevices for the purpose of collecting data.

FIG. 34 shows the process by which calibration data is collected fromthe device before formal data is collected.

FIG. 35 details the data collection sequence for an active experiment.

FIG. 36 shows how calibration tests are conducted.

FIG. 37 provides pseudo-code used to demonstrate the calibration tests.

FIG. 38 shows the process by which data is sent to the data processor.

With reference to FIG. 39, this diagram shows how multiple random eventgenerator devices might be connected to an REG server; which is thenaccessible by many clients via TCP/IP.

With reference to FIG. 29, as shown in this diagram, a bit stream from asingle random event generator device is treated as four virtual devices,capable of providing data to four different users. It is important tonote that in this preferred embodiment, no user is server the same twobits.

Illustrative Use Case Scenarios:

The intention of the following is to provide a plain English descriptionof hypothetical situations involving fictitious customers who mightchoose to use some embodiment of the described system for a preferredpurpose. These examples are provided to give an additional level ofinsight into how and why a person might choose to use the invention aswell as to shed light into the advantages over existing methods.

Dating.

Joe is interested in using the system because he believes that animportant part of finding a suitable romantic partner is being able to“connect” with potential mates. After reading about the Princeton labresearch and the idea that well connected couples are able to createdeviations on the output of random event generators; he signs up to useour pre-described embodiment of the system with hopes that it willenhance his personal life and help to provide him with new insight intothis relationships.

After asking Sally out to dinner for next Wednesday, Joe logs into thedescribed system on the Psyleron web page and enters the date, time,location, and other details that he thinks are relevant into the system.When Wednesday comes along, he goes on his date with Sally and intenselyenjoys their conversations, believing in a subjective sense that theyhave really hit it off. At one point, they have an engaging conversationabout philosophy and Sally excuses herself to use the restroom. When shereturns, they discuss her interesting in soccer and touch on past lifeexperiences. Joe really enjoys himself, and wonders if the feeling wasmutual.

When he returns home from the date at night, he opens up his e-mail andis pleasantly surprised to remember that he had scheduled an event withthe Psyleron system last night. In an automated e-mail, he receives anote providing basic guidelines for interpreting the attached visualgraph and an indication that some elements of the night seemed to showan improbable effect. To his logical surprise but his emotional delight,when Joe opens the graph he realizes that the program has a highlighteda shift in the graph that corresponds almost exactly to their philosophydiscussions—a time when he had been sure that something was going onbetween the two of them. (See, e.g., FIG. 27 for an illustrativegraphical example.)

“My God” he says to himself, “That connection that I felt with Sallyreally seems to be measured by this thing” and he begins to replay thenight in more detail, in his mind, and wonder about what it all means.He feels validated regarding his feelings about their conversations; shereally did delight in his interest and value their conversations.Logging into the analysis web page, he creates notes to himselfregarding the night so that he might remember what the data correspondsto, and in the process of doing so reflects more deeply on the nature ofhis interactions and what he thought about Sally.

He learns about himself and validates his feelings through a combinationof his own subjective experience, and this process, which provides himwith quantitative and graphical feedback. It gives him the confidence tocall her again for another date. When he isn't sure about what to do—thephilosophy conversation was great, but she said she loved soccer; heremembers the deviation in the graph and invites her to a philosophylecture. She is thrilled; and his choice of the next date location leadsto more deep conversations and connecting. He uses the system for allother dates from then on!

The Salesman.

Mike isn't your average business man. Sure, he got his MBA from Harvard,has his Master's degree in analytical finance and worked his way upthrough the corporate ladder—but he has also always had an interest inphilosophy, quantum physics, and the nature of time. While he and mostof the people around him attribute his success to hard work, focus, andgood interpersonal skills; he sometimes wonders if there isn't more toit. Why was it that there were certain things, specifically with regardsto interacting with customers and clients that were always so obvious tohim and weren't to anyone else?

There were times where he had done deals that others considered to beimpossible. They viewed him as a great salesman who could bring twosides together, he felt that it was due to his sense of intuition andbeing able to “resonate with” and understand the needs of his customers.By understanding them and communicating in a way that worked, Mike wasable to do deals and make big money for his company. If only there werea way to refine that art, and communicate it to the rest of his team.

When Mike heard about the Psyleron system, he had to give it a try. Ifit could really do what it claimed to do—provide some kind of feedbackthat related to the interpersonal interactions between people; he wouldhave a new way of not only experimenting with something that interestedhim, but could potentially give his career an even faster boost andimprove the abilities of his entire staff. The possibilities wereendless!

Mike bought Psyleron's basic FieldREG package with a personal uselicense, and, much to his surprise, found that some of the changes inthe graph (along with the textual generated feedback that purported tohelp point out important sections in the data) did indeed correspondwith those “special moments” at which he could feel the conversationsturning around and imagined that he was giving a great pitch.

After upgrading to a business license, he continued to use the packageduring his meetings and session; finding that it helped him to hone hisskills even further and sometimes even to gain information about thecustomers. If peaks tended to occur when talking about a particularaspect of his product in a presentation, he would subtly query the otherside later to find out if that was the best product for them. It wasproviding benefits for him by making him even more responsive to andunderstanding of his customers.

As great as the system was, Mike found that it was sometimes tedious anddifficult to record sessions. He would have to remember to carry hisrandom event generator and laptop (or his Psyleron embedded device) withhim to meetings, which might be too much to setup and remember. The newembodiment of the technology, which was an online system, simplifiedthis task by making it so that his secretary could enter his entirecalendar into the web based scheduling interface, and receive reports athis leisure.

Rather than reading the e-mails, when he felt that he had time andwanted to review the data to prepare for his next presentation to aparticular client or to see where he went wrong; he would log into theonline analysis system, call up all of the events that were scheduledand relevant to that client, and carry out his usual process.

Furthermore, to supplement the functionality of adding comments andmarking segments that he used to have when his computer was with him;Mike added the Psyleron portable phone application to his PDA andconfigured it to allow him to mark segments and create comments fromafar. When the scheduler system was running one of his sessions from aremote server, might could click a button (or a few) to send data to theserver via TCP/IP. The server would note the time that his data came inand append it to actual data from the REG. When mike received his graphsvia e-mail or looked at his data archive, he would be reminded of whereeach incoming message occurred during the presentation.

Customer Relations Training.

After having seen the success of her friend Mike, Jill, the director ofH.R. at a large company decided that she wanted her entire staff tobenefit from using the technology that mike did. But rather than settingup each employee with their own system, she wanted to streamline thetechnology and have her own full featured system with proprietaryanalysis and features built and supported by her IT department.

In this case, Jill decides to purchase an REG server and both a businessuser and developer's license which will allow her to support up to onehundred staff members. This embodiment allows the IT staff to writetheir own analysis methods, customize their scheduling system, and tiedata from the generators to company wide events and other pieces of datathat are mined from the rest of the infrastructure. The system isaccessible on the company's private network, and becomes a focal pointfor staff to enter other data and information relevant to meetings,presentations, and conferences.

It becomes an integrated solution for sharing knowledge about customers,reviewing employee performance and feelings, and training employees andmanagers to become more aware of themselves and think more deeply abouttheir teams and customers.

5. Embodiment Set “V” A Method and Apparatus for Producing VisuallyAppealing Outputs to a User for the Purpose of Games, Meditation, andEntertainment Based on the Controlled Processing of StatisticalDeviations in a Random Physical Process

Overview:

In some embodiments, a system and/or method is provided for using randomprocesses to determine the color of a visual stimulus and changing saidcolor when deviations from expected behavior are detected in the randomprocess.

In some preferred embodiments, a novel and unique lamp is provided thatemploys and REG device in such a manner as to appear to change colors orthe like based on, e.g., the intention of a person, what is happening ina group environment or setting and/or other extra-physical phenomena.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention utilizes a tri-coloredLED to illuminate a customized lamp based on statistical deviations inthe output of an electronic random signal generator circuit. The signalgenerator circuit is designed to produce outputs which have atheoretical statistical expectation, and is sampled by amicrocontroller, which isolates and captures statistical deviations inthe signal. The microcontroller uses these samples to determine how toalter the color of the overall apparatus, creating a novel and visuallyappealing device with applications to meditation, gaming, art, andresearch.

Other embodiments of the invention include a wireless transceiver moduleand a remote control, which works in conjunction with the lamp and theuser to allow for various games or other group activities involvingselecting and altering the color of the lamp.

In recent years, there has been burgeoning interest in the idea that thehuman mind can have a direct influence on the physical world.Laboratories such as the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research lab atPrinceton University have conducted experiments to show that Randomphysical devices with roots in quantum uncertainty (e.g. devicessometimes referred to as “Random Event Generators”) may producenon-random (e.g. those which deviate from their expected chance behaviorunder classical assumptions about physics) outputs that correlate withthe intention of a human user (“Operator”) or correspond to states ofheightened emotional engagement and involvement in the user or a group.

While this research has been interesting to many followers and hasgained a steady amount of media coverage and pop-culture follow-ons inrecent years, a simple and physical embodiment of the work has largelybeen inaccessible to lay people. Some time ago, the present inventorcreated a system (known as the Psyleron REG-1 Package), which, for thepurposes of providing entertainment, increasing the efficiency of datacollection processes, reducing the cost of experiments, and creatingopportunities to allow a user (or many users) to experiment with thisconsciousness driven random event generator phenomena in their own lifewithout having to purchase expensive equipment or install and manage adetailed software and analysis system as has been historically requiredin other contexts.

The new invention, as described in this document, is a consumer orienteddevice which takes advantage of technological developments that cameabout using the computer oriented systems, and which is meant to providean aesthetically appealing and subjectively meaningful experience to theuser without necessarily involving the rigorous analysis andinterpretation required in more quantitative experiments related toconsciousness correlated phenomena. Its roots in research about the mindand the nature of the physical universe appeals particularly to userswith an interest in the mind or human intention.

Experiments in Anomalous Human Machine Interaction

Publications by researchers show that the output of a physical randomevent generator may be influenced by the intention of a user who isfocusing on them. A sample of such publications are listed below, andare incorporated herein by reference in their entireties, as thoughrecited in full:

-   1. Engineering Anomalies Research (1987). J. Scientific Exploration,    1, No. 1, pp. 21-50.-   2. Consciousneoss and Anomalous Physical Phenomena (1995). PEAR    Technical Note 95004, May 1995.

Psyleron Internal REG Studies

Psyleron has conducted a number of controlled and anecdotal experimentsutilizing a random event generator and human intention. Theseexperiments replicate and build upon the publications cited at the PEARlab, showing that human intention is able to affect the output of theserandom physical processes.

Psyleron Internal Lamp Studies

Testing and development with the invention has shown that it can respondto the intention of a user in ways that exceed chance behavior and aresimilar to those effects found in prior experiments. For example, in onestudy, the invention was embodied in the form of a color changing lampand operators were able to pre-state an intended color (“I wish to makethe lamp turn red”) and it was noted that the lamp achieved this statedcolor at a rate much faster than would be expected when the lamp wasleft to run under control conditions.

FieldREG Publications

Work done by the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research lab suggeststhat the emotional content and subjective nature of group interactionsmight influence the output of REGs. The relevant publications areincorporated herein by reference in their entireties, as though recitedin full, and are listed below:

-   1. Nelson, R. D., Bradish, G. J., Dobyns, Y. D., Dunne, B. J.,    Jahn, R. G., FieldREG Anomalies in Group Situations (1996). J.    Scientific Exploration, 10, No. 1, pp. 111-141;-   2. Nelson, R. D., Jahn, R. G., Dunne, B. J., Dobyns, Y. D.,    Bradish, G. J, FieldREG II: Consciousness Field Effects Replications    and Explorations (1998). J. Scientific Exploration, 12, No. 3, pp.    425-454.

The notable finding of these studies is that the random event generatordevices, brought into particular venues involving human experiences suchas enthusiasm, shared purpose, or group intention, seem to showdepartures from their chance behavior. In this context, novelty is addedto the lamp.

Patents. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,064, Bradish, et al.,1998, for an “Apparatus and method for distinguishing events whichcollectively exceed chance expectations and thereby controlling anoutput” is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, as thoughrecited in full.

Patent Application.

The entire disclosure of the present inventor's co-pending provisionalapplication Ser. Nos. 60/986,954; 61/012,434; 61/014,941 filed on Nov.9, 2007, Dec. 9, 2007, and Dec. 19, 2007 of the present inventor, J.Valentino, is incorporated herein by reference as though recited infull. Some of this application emphasizes the concept and use ofpackaging a random event generating circuit into a real world devicewith the purchase of spurring additional thoughts and introspection onthe part of the user; this present application adds to and strengthensthat finding.

Discussion Related to Embodiment Set “V”

The preferred embodiment of the system has the following six maincomponents:

-   1. A Custom Housing (“Lamp Housing”)—In some preferred embodiments,    the invention involves a housing, made of a form of glass (or in    some embodiments plastic or another translucent material) that has    been colored so as to allow light to pass from the inside to the    outside, so that it might change colors based on light emitted from    a light emitting diode (LED) on the inside of the housing.-   2. PC Board Housing—A housing which is built for the purpose of    holding an electronic circuit board as well as the LED, LEDs, or    Light Sources which will drive the color of the lamp.-   3. Light Diffuser Mechanism—A piece of plastic, glass, and/or metal    which goes inside of the Lamp Housing and PC Board Housing for the    purpose of providing better diffusion and reflection of the LED    light, with the goal of saturating the custom housing.-   4. Circuit Attachment Mechanism—A plastic or metal device, or a form    of glue, caulk, or other adhesive, which is used for the purpose of    attaching the PC Board Housing, Light Diffuser, Circuit Board, and    any lights to the Lamp Housing.-   5. Circuit Board—One or more electronic printed circuit board(s)    which preferably has the following sub-systems and components.    -   a. Analog Random Noise Source—In the preferred embodiments, the        Analog Random Noise Source (sometimes referred to as “Random        Signal Generator”) uses an electronic signal to create a        non-deterministic (e.g. unpredictable) output which has known        statistical properties when sampled by some kind of digital        circuit. In the preferred embodiment, this analog random noise        source is comprised of a resistor and Field Effect Transistor        (FET) combination circuit which generates Johnson noise on the        input of the FET. This analog signal is sampled with a        comparator in such a configuration that nominally allows it to        produce 50% “high” outputs and 50% “low outputs” and is then fed        to a Micro-Controller (4) for processing.    -   b. Power Supply and Management Circuit—The power supply circuit        converts AC voltage or battery power into a DC current that is        sufficient for running the analog random source and powering the        microcontroller. Special care is taken when designing this power        supply to create two semi-isolated power outputs from one input.        This is important so that the sensitive Random Analog Noise        Source is not disturbed by fluctuations on the power line which        are driven by the digital logic and/or LED driver circuits.    -   c. High Power LED and Driver Circuit—A high power (e.g. >500 mW)        LED is used in conjunction with a transistor and resistor        circuit, and in some embodiments, a digital to analog converter.        The purpose of this portion of the circuit is to allow the        Microcontroller to produce a wide variety/full spectrum of hues        and colors by varying the intensity and duty cycle of a limited        number of discrete Light Emitting Diodes.    -   d. Micro Controller with Custom Software—The microcontroller        serves as the “brains” of the circuit, and in the preferred        embodiment has at least four functions;        -   i. Process the Random Analog Signal—The micro-controller            uses a built in (or external) comparator or analog to            digital converter to sample the random generator circuit            and, in some embodiments, to process it using a software            algorithm for the purpose of generating outputs with the            statistical properties necessary to drive the LED device.            The combination of the analog circuit output and this            processing method may sometimes be referred to a “Random            Event Generator” or “REG.”        -   ii. Selectively power the LEDs—The microcontroller performs            calculations necessary to power the LED, lights, and/or LED            driver circuit for the purpose of generating a particular            color. In some cases, the color selected is driven by            calculations performed on the output of the REG.        -   iii. Process Input from the User—In some embodiments, the            microcontroller is connected to one or more switches,            buttons, potentiometers, or sensors, for the purpose of            configuring the state and output of the device or any of its            subsystems.        -   iv. Process Input from Sub-Systems—The microcontroller can            be connected to one or more subsystems, with which it            transfers data to provide additional functionality to the            device.    -   e. Sub-Systems—Different embodiments of the invention may employ        one or more “sub-systems” used for the purpose of providing        additional features and functionality to the “Base Circuit.”        Examples of such sub-systems are a wireless transceiver        sub-system, which receives a wirelessly transmitted signal from        or a variety of remote devices; a TCP/IP sub-system, which makes        the state of the device accessible over a network via an        Ethernet cable; a Sound and Voice sub-system, which gives the        device the capability of producing sounds or emitting words when        particular states are triggers; a USB sub-system, which makes        the device controllable from a PC; or a battery management        sub-system meant to charge and discharge rechargeable batteries        in such a way as to maximize the battery life and operating time        of the overall system.

Illustrative Usage Process (e.g., Employing User Interface):

In one illustrative simplistic embodiment of the system, the user plugsthe invention with its Base Circuit (e.g. a PC Board containing theanalog noise source, microcontroller, LED driver, and power managementcircuits; house inside of a custom made transparent glass case) into thewall. Within moments, the device turns on, emitting a color that hasbeen determined by the output of the random generator circuit. The userand possibly his or her friends then watch the lamp, enjoying itsnovelty and hoping to create a deviation in the output based on theirmental intention. After some time, the lamp changes to another color,determined by the random generator circuit, and the users take this aseither positive or negative feedback with regards to their statedintentional goal.

In other embodiments of the system, the same process takes on a moresophisticated meaning. By pressing a button on a remote control, thefirst player in a multi-player game will select a color (such as blue)that is his stated color. The lamp starts up in a random state andbegins to shift based on the output of the random generator circuit as acount-down timer (displayed on an LCD in the remote) begins countingdown for some period of time (e.g. two minutes.) The users sit therewith their intentions attempting to either make the lamp turn blue ornot blue based on which team they are on.

At the end of the two minutes, if the lamp has achieved a blue color, itemits a sound (e.g. a happy bell to indicate victory) and the user orteam who was aiming for the blue color is given points according to ascoring system (e.g. ten points for reaching blue within 2 minutes), andthe remote is passed to the next user, who repeats the process,beginning with a new color.

In another embodiment, highlighted for its slightly different purpose, ameditator or alternative energy healing practitioner (e.g. someoneperforming the practices or techniques known as “Reiki,” “Qi Gong,”“Therapeutic Touch,” or some equivalent”) brings the lamp to class withthem and goes through a series of guided meditations, motions, orbreathing actions with the intent of shifting the color of the lamp.Alternatively, they may assign a meaning to each of the colors andreflect on it during their meditation process, altering their mentalstates, actions, or exercises based on the color displayed.

In some embodiments, a lamp of an embodiment described herein can beused for data collection similar to other embodiments described herein.By way of example, in some embodiments, the lamp can include acommunication interface via which messages can be transmitted to anexternal computer (such as, e.g., a personal computer or externalserver). In some embodiments, the lamp can be adapted to transmit pointsof statistically notable events (such as, e.g., timing for switchingbetween colors or the like) for data storage, data analysis and datadisplay (e.g. via a monitor connected to the computer). In someembodiments, the lamp also includes a mechanism for a user to store anaudio recording (e.g., along with a time stamp of the audio recording)for creating an audio file that is also transmitted to the computer orserver or the like. By way of example, in some embodiments, the lamp caninclude a wireless connection to a computer or server (e.g., WLANconnection), or an Ethernet connection, or can be connected using a USBcable or a Bluetooth wireless connection or some other mechanism totransmit data to a computer or server. In some embodiments, the lampwill only transmit data related to REG events, such as, e.g.,statistical data, times of variations of colors, or the like, while thecomputer can include software that collects the data received from thelamp and allows for a user to input an audio recording and/or tootherwise identify particular matters of interest, such as, e.g., tomake an audio recording of the user's subjective comments which islinked with and displayed with data from the lamp via the computer andmonitor. Among other things, the software could be adapted to enable auser to track progress and make user evaluations of correlations betweenlamp data and their subjective data. Alternatively or additionally, thesoftware could also be adapted to perform analysis and comparisonsbetween such data streams, such as, e.g., correlating lamp data withuser data and presenting results of such correlations to the user.

Implementation of the Preferred Embodiments

This section sets forth a preferred method of implementing a systemaccording to some preferred embodiments and capable of carrying out someor all of the previously described use case scenarios. The followingdescription is intended to represent only one embodiment of the system,and other combinations of features or implementations to achieve thesame novel goals are possible.

1. Housing—The housing consists of a 12″ tall cylindrical lamp made of awhite frosted glass and commonly available at stores such as IKEA. Thelamp is produced using a traditional molding process, and has threeadditional features features;

-   -   1. Opening in the Bottom (“Diffuser Hole”)—The lamp has an        approximately 1.5″ in diameter hole for the purpose of accepting        a lamp.    -   2. Indented Bottom Shape—The bottom of the lamp has an        approximately 3.0″ in diameter and 0.75″ deep cylindrical        opening.    -   3. Power Opening—The edge of the lamp contains a hole, which is        suitable for allowing a power adapter out.    -   4. Opacity—The lamp is made of materials and colored so as to        allow a colored light on the insight (e.g. a blue light) to        diffuse through the body of the lamp and make the body appear to        also be another color (e.g. blue.)

2. PC Board Housing—In this embodiment, the PC Board housing is a sheetof plastic attached to the PC Board using two screws. It serves thepurpose of isolating the PC Board from the glass of the lamp and fromthe LED housed in the light Diffuser Cap.

3. Light Diffuser Cap—The embodiment employs a 1.5″ in diameter and0.25″ deep plastic cap, similar to those found on the tops of manyplastic drink bottles, such as those on the bottles of Coca-Cola's“Vitamin Water.” The cap is made of a translucent white plastic, and isconnected via an epoxy material to the Diffuser Hole and the PC BoardHousing.

4. PCB Attachment Mechanism—The Light Diffuser Cap is connected to theopening in the bottom (1.1A) of the housing a silicone based epoxyadhesive capable of withstanding high temperatures. The LED is placedinside of this cap, and then which is then connected via an adhesive tothe PC Board. The PC Board may also be connected via an adhesive to thebottom of the Lamp Housing (1.1 B). This seals all of the parts in placeand creates a single object of a solid construction.

5. Circuit Board—The printed circuit board is mechanically fitted to bea six sided polygon that will fit snugly within the indented housing(1.1B) of the housing. It contains a variety of electronic systems,mostly being comprised of commonly available surface mount components.[See FIG. 1.5 for a block diagram.]

Random Noise Generator Circuit

The preferred implementation of the analog generator circuit uses aField Effect Transistor (e.g. 2N5484) coupled to a high resistance (e.g.680 k ohms) precision resistor and an amplification circuit (e.g. a pairof 2N3906 PNP general purpose amplification transistors) for the purposeof generating a random signal. When minor fluctuations in current (e.g.those due to the random nature of molecular collisions within theresistive material) occur, they modify the gate-emitter voltage of theField Effect transistor, thickening and dampening the potential energyat the main junction through which electrons can flow.

These electrons are, themselves, subject to the random process ofquantum tunneling (e.g. each electron has a probability of tunnelingthrough a potential barrier which it would not otherwise have the energyto pass), and this process leads to a very small fluctuating currentflowing from the source to the drain of the Field Effect Transistor.This small current is amplified through a general purpose amplificationcircuit using a two transistor amplifier circuit, and each transistorincludes a filter (high or low pass) for filtering out frequencies belowsome range (e.g. 500 Hz) and above some other frequency (e.g. 100 KHz.)

This filtering attenuates spurious noise signals not driven by thedesired quantum processes, such as that which is commonly referred to as“1/f noise” and leaves a signal with a virtually flat frequencyspectrum, driven largely by underlying quantum events (e.g. tunneling ofelectrons through a potential barrier and/or thermal agitation of theresistive lattice in a resistor), and which is suitable for sampling ata later stage in the circuit. [Example Schematic in 1.5A]

This portion of the circuit must also be fed from a purified powersupply, and is, in preferred embodiments, shielded from external noiseby placing a grounded piece of copper over the FET and resistorcombination. An additional layer of copper or mu-metal shielding may beincluded.

Power Supply

The preferred embodiment of the circuit has a power supply which can,for the sake of clarity and convenience, be defined in terms of twoparts. The first part is the “external power supply,” which serves as abridge between some commonly available power source (e.g. the 110 VoltAC output of a common household electrical outlet) and the internalcircuit. The second part of the power supply can be referred to as the“internal power supply,” which is a sub-system mounted on the PrintedCircuit board and used as a bridge between the External Power Supply andother portions of the circuit.

-   -   a. External Power Supply—In the preferred embodiment of the        circuit, the external power supply is a standard DC wall        transformer which is rated for 5.5VDC at 2.0 amps and included a        slim profile plug so that it may be plugged into the wall        without interfering with other circuits. The external power        supply may use a transformer, rectifier diode, capacitor, and a        voltage regulator to create a stable DC output voltage.    -   b. Internal Power Supply—The internal power supply accepts the        input from the external power supply via a female power jack. It        puts the current through a ferrite bead which is specifically        designed to attenuate high frequency jitter but allow DC        signals. This is then fed into storage and filtering capacitors,        and put through two parallel voltage regulators (e.g.        LP2985-AIM5.0 and LP2985-AIM3.3) which produce outputs of 3.3V        and 5.0V. The 3.3V signal is used to power the digital logic,        whereas the regulated 5.0V output, which in some embodiments may        be further isolated with a diode or full wave bridge rectifier,        is used to power the analog portion of the circuit.

The combined power supply mechanism helps to reduce artifacts from thewall or fluctuations in the line current. The dual voltage output servesthe purpose of reducing spikes on the power line that are driven byrelatively high frequency and high current draw from the digital logic,microcontroller, and other sub-systems of the circuit.

Micro-Controller

The described embodiment of the invention utilizes a PIC 18F2550microcontroller circuit running at 20 MHz. The Microcontroller isprogrammed to have a timer driven interrupt occur at least 10,000 timesper second, with the interrupt providing a pulse to each of the LEDs inthe LED driver circuit, based on the color that the program hopes todisplay.

This interrupt routine runs alongside a main loop which gets a processedbit from the REG (e.g. the analog noise source output sampled with acomparator and put through a processing algorithm described in theappendix) and, based on the value of the bit makes a slight modificationof the color that is currently being displayed by the device vis-á-visthe interrupt routine. In addition to this, the algorithm compares thecurrent bit to prior bits, and when many subsequent bits are equal toone another (e.g. when eight consecutive ‘1’ bits have been produced),the color to be displayed by the interrupt routine is shifted evenfurther.

Sample pseudo-code is as follows. Actual code from a single workingembodiment of the device is provided in appendix 2.

Functions:

-   -   1. getBit( )—Samples a bit from the analog source and processes        them according to an algorithm.

In one embodiment, the algorithm takes multiple samples from thecomparator with the scheme; (if bit1==bit2 then sample again. If bit1=1and bit2=0 then output=1. If bit1=0 and bit2=1 then output=0.) Output isthen XORed with a bit generated using a pseudo-random algorithm, to helpensure high statistical quality.

-   -   2. HSVtoRGB—Converts numerical representations of Hue,        Saturation, and Value to 1 byte (e.g. 8 bit, 256 position        variables) variables meant to represent the relative intensities        of Red, Green, and Blue used to drive separate Red, Green, and        Blue LEDs.

Timer Driven Interrupt:

In addition to the main program loop, which executes sequentially, atimer driven interrupt is called approximately 10,000 times per secondfor the purpose of setting the LEDs into either an on or off statedepending on the color to be produced by the lamp.

Main Program Loop:

  do{ Bit[n] = getBit; if (Bit[n]==1)  ColorWheel++; If (Bit[n]==0) ColorWheel−−; N++; State = getState ( Bit[N])); ShiftColor (State);SetLEDs (R,G,B); Delay_ms(12); } while(1);

A full Source code for one embodiment of the device was incorporated inthe said above-corresponding U.S. Provisional Application, the entiredisclosure of which has been incorporated in this application.

CONCLUSION

The totality of this embodiment creates an aesthetically appealing andintellectually interesting device with the potential to be influenced bythe states of mind, emotions, and intentions of its viewer. It hasapplications in gaming, meditation, and many areas which are of interestto consumers.

Alternative Embodiments

Some examples of embodiments of the invention, other than thoseexplicitly described above, are summarized below;

-   -   1. Different shape of the case—Other embodiments of the        invention can be housed in a translucent dome, pyramid, or        sphere. The size can also be modified, with the above described        embodiment occupying something as small as a “snow globe” (e.g.        a sphere of less than 3 inches in diameter) or as large as        multiple LEDs will allow.    -   2. Different type of case—Rather than being an ornamental object        such as a lamp to be placed on a desk, the circuit described        above can be miniaturized using common circuit miniaturization        techniques and then placed in jewelry, such as a pendant, watch,        bracelet, or anklet.    -   3. LED Array—In addition to using a single high powered RGB LED        module, other embodiments of the invention can use multiple high        powered LEDs, stand-alone LEDs, an array of low powered LEDs, or        even a single low powered LED in some applications.    -   4. Algorithms and LED Control—In addition to having the        algorithm of the preferred embodiment control the color of the        emitted light, it can also control the brightness of the emitted        light, cause the light to alternate in different patterns (e.g.        flashing on and off), or even use the LED driver circuit to        drive something such as an audible feedback by connecting it to        a piezoelectric buzzer or speaker element.

In various other embodiments, any other form of lamination can beemployed, and LED lights are just some preferred examples. Moreover,while some preferred embodiments have the LED colors change, it iscontemplated that rather than and/or in addition to changing colors,another variation in lamination can be imparted, such as, e.g., toincrease the intensity, create a flash or an intermittent pulse orflickering of a light, to dim a light and/or otherwise moderate lightsettings. Moreover, while this example pertains to light emittions,other embodiments can involve, e.g., sound emittion and/or emittion ofany other media, whether olfactory (e.g., smells), sounds and/or thelike.

Enhancements:

The described embodiment of the device presents only one subset of themultitude of possible uses and applications for the technology andconcepts surrounding the device. In addition to the preferred embodimentand others listed, devices making use of the invention may employ someor many of the following additional features:

-   -   1. Battery Operation—The invention as described in the preferred        embodiment can be powered by a battery or collection of        batteries providing at least 3.0V of output. Other embodiments        utilizing lower power LEDs can function at lower voltages. To        employ this enhancement, the external power supply need only be        replaced with a connection to the battery or batteries. These        batteries provide power that is free of many artifacts that can        be found on the AC power line, and so the additional level of        power filtering is often not necessary.    -   2. Mode Switches—A switch or plurality of switches may be added        to the circuit and connected to the microcontroller for the        purpose of enabling or disabling features. For example, the        constants in the source code which change the speed at which the        lamp changes colors, or the nature of the lighting effect (e.g.        color shifting vs. intensity shifting) may be set by a switch or        potentiometer.    -   3. Wireless Control—A wireless controller may be used to enable        or disable modes or configuration settings, such as in #2, by        taking advantage of commonly employed engineering techniques.    -   4. Data Collection—An embodiment of the device may sample data        from its random event generator by storing the digitized output        from the analog noise source (e.g. That which is used to control        the lamp) in the memory of the Microcontroller and/or writing it        to an EEPROM or flash memory device and/or transferring it to a        computer via a USB port.    -   5. Color—Documentation provided with the device may associate        the colored output of the device with a subjective state (e.g.        blue for calmness, red for anger), and advanced algorithms may        be used to determine which colors to display.

Terminology:

Throughout this portion of this document, the following terminology isemployed.

“Random Event Generator” which refers to, in preferred embodiments, anydevice which generates stochastic and/or probabilistic (in the sensethat they can not be predicted beyond a probability density function andare preferably driven by quantum mechanical measurements) outputs withthe purpose of measuring the influences of consciousness (e.g., withoutwires or a direct physical connection to the brain), and whose outputcan be digitized and processed by a computer or onboard Microcontroller.

“Meditator” is used to refer to any person who practices a state ofmental introspection, disciplined thinking, or active focus with theintent of altering his or her mental state, creating an internalsubjective experience, or creating some kind of influence on thephysical world. An example of a meditator could be a person whomeditates according to some traditional meditation practice (such as,e.g., Zen Buddhism, Yoga, Transcendental Meditation) or also a personwho engages in introspection, prayer, or such activities.

“Energy Healer” or “Alternative Medicine Practitioner” is used to referto any person who engages in the practice of such terms as areunderstood by those in the art.

Except when referring to prior research studies, “Experiment” is usedloosely to refer to any situation in which a person correlates theoutput of one system with that of another system for the purpose oftesting a hypothesis, making a decision, or asking a question.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 40 provides an example of a housing in which the invention canexist, as used in the preferred embodiment. The power cord coming off.

FIG. 41 demonstrates how the “PC Board”, “PC Board Top Plate”, “PC BoardBottom Plate,” “Light Diffuser Cap” and “LED with PCB” come together toform a solid module which exists within the housing.

FIG. 42 provides illustrations of separate components, with someadditional details provided below:

-   -   A. Light Diffuser—The light diffuser is made of a translucent        plastic and has a fully open bottom with a slightly rounded top.    -   B. “PCB Plate Top Face”—The top face is a solid disk with two        screw holes and an opening cut to allow access to a DC power        jack. It may have a company or product name etched into it. This        piece goes on the bottom-most part of the lamp and is visible to        the end-user.    -   C. “PC Board Top Face”—This is the component side of the PC        Board, which is shown to include a metal shielding cap [in the        upper left] to protect the sensitive analog circuit, a DC power        jack [in the bottom center] and a micro controller [in the upper        right.] It also includes holes which can accept PCB standoffs.    -   D. “PC Board Bottom Face”—This illustrates the back side of the        PC Board, which may have no components, and has a total of six        holes. Four of the holes are for interfacing with an LED, and        the other two are for screws or PCB standoffs.    -   E. “PCB Plate Bottom Side”—This illustrate a connect which rests        on the bottom face of the PC Board. It has two holes with PEM        nuts (to accept screws from the PC Board or Standoffs), and four        holes to accept pins from an LED circuit board. The dotted line        circle suggests where the Light Diffuser mechanism with LED        inside can be placed.    -   F. “LED with Connector on PCB”—This illustrates a single LED        housing containing 3 LEDs (Red, Green, Blue) and with four        wires; which can be one common anode and the cathode for each of        the Red, Green, and Blue sub-LEDs. These wires terminate in        pins, which can be plugged into the PC Board.    -   G. “LED Inside of Light Diffuser Mechanism”—This figure        illustrates how the LED can be placed inside of the light        diffuser mechanism with its interface pins sticking out so that        it may be put to rest on the “PCB Plate Bottom Side” and        otherwise connect to the PC Board itself.

FIG. 43 provides a block diagram of the connections between variouscomponents of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

As indicated above, source code written in C for a PIC 18F2450/18F2550Micro controller is incorporated herein by reference via the above-notedprovisional application, to demonstrate and illustrative preferredembodiment of the invention along with many of the behaviors andcharacteristics listed in this document.

6. Embodiment Set “VI” A System and Process for Improving DecisionMaking by Drawing on the Implicit Knowledge of Human Agents with the Aidof a Random Event Generator

Overview:

A process and system for surveying users is presented in which users areexposed to a pre-defined but potentially evolving set of questions thatare presented in a random order. The same set of questions is presentedto multiple users for the sake of aggregating the results to come upwith a collective consensus of otherwise unpredictable probabilistic orsubjective outcomes, or those same questions are presented to the sameuser in different orders over the course of various sessions when he orshe is in a different state of mind or has been exposed to additionalinformation.

The prediction power, accuracy, and novelty of this system is furtherenhanced by the use of a random event generator that controls variousaspects of the information presentation and provides added data to beanalyzed in the decision making process. The system may use the randomgenerator output to shape the nature of the experiment and/or to weightthe significance or meaningfulness of responses based on statisticaldeviations in the random generator that occur before, during, or afterthe questioning process has taken place. When this feature is employed,the claimed enhancement relies not only on the fact that the randomgenerator adds elements of randomness to the process to eliminateselection bias and known statistical artifacts, but also that internaland external research has shown that properly processed and interpretedrandom event generator outcomes may provide information about thesubconscious and subjective states of participants.

In analyzing the final results of the data collection process, specialattention is paid to the output of the random event generator, therecorded or recalled subjective states of the participants before andduring the times of the survey, and the co-incidence of similar resultsand feelings across the pool of participants. In most cases, thisinformation is used by an agent to aid in complex decision makingprocesses. In some situations, the help of an expert data interpretermay be used to further increase the capabilities of the system.

Some notable aspects or concepts of this embodiment include theincorporation of random event generators into kinds of data collectionprocesses to reveal hidden information about something. Moreover, someembodiments herein also touch on some concepts like asking a person aquestion multiple times in different ways to capture implicitinformation. By, for example, focusing a person on these things whilethe REG is operating, this can potentially be better “honed” on aparticular question or set of questions and, therefore, provide extrainformation that would not otherwise be known if no REG was present. Forexample, a strong emotional reaction to a particular question or set ofquestions might manifest in the REG data, and an analyzer couldrecognize the pattern and appreciate that a particular idea or conceptwas “triggering” the survey taker.

Illustrative Steps:

1. A data file is prepared that provides a pool of questions and variousparameters relating to the possible forms of answers to the question(multiple choice, fill in the blank, etc.) from which a program willpresent questions to a user. The data file may include information andparameters for the “experiment” such as whether a question is requiredor optional, the maximum number of times that it can be presented, therange of allowable values, whether any elements of the question (such asnumbers) may be randomly varied by the “electronic data collectionprogram,” and other such considerations.

2. A user is presented with the “electronic data collection program”which will interpret the data file and [in some cases] randomly orderthe questions and fill in variable values based on the output of a trueor pseudo-random number generator.

3. The user answers the questions in the order presented by the program,usually in a one at a time way. The computer stores additionalinformation such as reaction times to the question (in milliseconds),output from the random event generator (see section III) and, in someinstances, data from external sources such as physiological measuringdevices. In many cases, the user is encouraged to answer based on theirgut reaction or instinct rather than based on logic, analysis, orprocessed concepts.

4. Optionally, the user may keep a journal, logbook, or use some kind ofmethod of tracking information about their feelings, mood, emotions,thoughts, and subjective feelings or responses to the questions.

5. The answers are saved to a file for future tabulation; or sent over anetwork to a central database containing the user's responses to saidquestions and any additional data from external devices.

6. After enough data is accumulated from many users or from a singleuser on varied instances over a period of time; the results areprocessed (by taking an average, median, mode, or looking at somestatistical distribution characteristics) to arrive at a probabilitydistribution of outcomes or results based on the consensus data. Forexample, if the questions related to the offering price of some stock,the average across many days and various hypothetical deals may bepresented as a final outcome. The program makes recommendationsregarding outcomes based on what is provided.

7. The data from this process is incorporated into some decision makingprocess to increase the accuracy and effectiveness of the decisionmaking process relative to what it would have been without the system.

Consciousness Correlated Information Enhancement Using a Random Process:

Using the same basic process as described above, we are able to deeplyenhance the information acquisition potential of the system by utilizingthe output of a true random event generator at the time of the dataacquisition. This generator feeds its data to an electronic system suchas a computer for the purpose of temporarily correlating it with theoutput. The REG output may also be used to shape the presentations ofquestions or provide a number of control functions over the course ofthe experiment.

For example:

1) Output from the random event generator can be processed by thecomputer to change the order of the questions in real-time;

2) Output from the random event generator can determine whether or not aparticular question should be asked;

3) Output from the random event generator can determine whether or not aquestion should be repeated later in the survey; or, in some advancedembodiments, leads to an intelligent modification of the question, whichis then repeated at a later time.

In some embodiments, the output of the random event generator can alsoplay an important role in shaping the analysis of the data or thequestions being asked. For example:

1) Output from the random event generator is recorded as the user makesa response to the prompts and is stored. At the time of analysis,structural trends in this data are compared against time-stampedelements of the user responses for the sake of gaining insight into thequestioning process. For example:

i. If multiple users show statistically significant deviations whenresponding to the same question or writing about the same topic, thesurveyor knows to follow up on that question.

ii. If significant or similar deviations occur when the user ispresented with questions relating to a topic or similar category withina session (such as the price of bonds; the person's childhood; theweather on Tuesday).

2) The surveyor takes real-time random event generator output as theyparse through the results of the survey and is alerted to anysignificant deviations. If alerts occur in a pattern related to theabove, they are considered relevant.

Variants and Notes:

-   -   This process may involve one individual person answering the        same set of questions over a protracted period of time, ideally        when they are in a number of different mental states.    -   Analysis of complementary data from the random event generator        should pay special attention to deviations from the expected        chance output of the random event generator during times the        user is presented with or reflecting on a question.    -   In an advanced embodiment, the question data file may include        fields relating to the emotional content of the file and the        random event generator output may be used to re-present        questions with stronger or weaker emotional content based on        perceptions of those emotions.    -   Analysis of the random event generator data in conjunction with        the survey questions and output may be strictly quantitative as        in applying specific algorithms to assess the output; or it may        be qualitative in terms of having an expert or professional        assess and interpret the data based on context and prior        experience.

Sample Uses:

This system has potential uses in just about any situation where aperson or multiple people are seeking to make a prediction or a guess inlight of uncertain information. For example:

1) The general forecasting of any type of business trend of whichdifferent people have disparate knowledge; for example, to come up withmarketing the demand for a product in future business quarters or years.

2) To measure the aggregate opinion of a group on various topics.

3) To come up with an estimate of stock prices for the purpose ofprediction or to assess the value of some other asset.

4) To measure the emotional reaction of a person or a group of people toa particular topic or line of questioning.

5) To obtain knowledge about subconscious or implicit feelings on aparticular topic—for example, a psychotherapist may present customizedsurveys to a participant for the purpose of learning about the deeperemotional status of the user.

6) To help an individual decision maker, such as a business executive toset a course of strategy for their organization or to better understandtheir feelings on a particular topic.

7) To add an additional piece of information to any kind of surveyprocess, such as: a standard opinion survey, a survey regarding tastesand preferences for products, a survey measuring customer or clientsatisfaction relating to a product or service.

8) To determine which variables should be further researched in adecision making process. For example; in a case of limited resources toconduct an investigation, significance along a particular line ofquestioning might spur investigators to pursue those topics further.

9) To determine which variables should be included into, e.g., a MonteCarlo simulation or a business/financial model based on those whichexhibit the highest degree of correspondence across participants orsignificant random generator correlations.

10) As a self-improvement tool for making more well informed long-termdecisions about ones own life, dreams, ambitions, and desires.

Analysis Methods:

Though the simplest application of concepts put forward in thisapplication can provide a tangible benefit to users in most domains withlittle formal analysis, a more detailed understanding of the principlesand analysis methods can shed more insight into the nature of theinvention and its potential uses.

It is most convenient to talk about analysis in two separate processes,even though a preferred embodiment of the system would almost alwaysseek to incorporate both methods into the interpretation of data.

General Theory:

According to some embodiments, of notable importance is the notion thatthe subconscious mind of an individual or the implicit knowledge of agroup may have access to much more information than is consciouslyavailable to any given person at any given moment in time. The theory ofoperation for this process and its analysis seeks to elicit thisinformation from the subconscious mind in both a mundane and anomalousway.

In some embodiments, the first part of our process relies on the factthat the conscious mind of an individual contains different pieces ofinformation at different moments. Ask a person how many units of productthey think a company will sell when they are in a bad mood and they maylikely underestimate it. Ask the same person after a motivating salesmeeting or a conversation with a customer, and the same person'sestimate may be higher even if no information is presented. In allcases, there is an underlying thread of “rationality” that shapes theperson's decisions and judgments. By capturing data from this singleuser at various times, as the person is in various states, even a simpleaveraging combination of the data will refine the estimate.

In the case of groups, the operating principle is that each member ofthe group is similar to the individual when they are in a different moodor state of mind. The In either case, the analysis method can be aidedby requiring that participants make subjective notes regarding theirstates and opinions before and/or after the data collection takes place.Upon a final analysis or averaging of the data, the person can parsethrough their notes to determine the respective weight of variousemotional states. For example, if a participant (or, more likely, askilled analyzer) realizes that she had 9 unduly pessimistic days, 5neutral days, and only 3 optimistic days; a calculation of the split andcontributions of each days can lead to a refinement of the estimate.

A second way of enhancing the standard method for creating these resultsis by doing what we internally refer to as “isolating units of meaning,”which is a concept that basically means that the participant should becapable of clearing their mind and removing “overlap” from prior guessesor judgments at the time that data entry is made.

Simply waiting for a period of time between data collection sessionsfrom a particular participant is one way of implicitly accomplishingthis; but we encourage that users work to “forget” prior assumptions andideas between sessions or to take a unique perspective.

In the case of experiments involving groups, the minimizing chatter andconsensus between participants is extremely important; so theparticipants might be encouraged to partake in activities which promoteindividuality and implicitly separate them from the group. An example ofsuch an activity would be asking them to write down ten things that makethem different from others who will be participates, their likes anddislikes with regards to other people, and about their background. It isnoted that at many other places in this document, embodiments pertainingto groups tend to focus on individuals in the group having a morecollectively cooperative behavior and, essentially, being on the samepage in order to create an effect. However, this particular example inthis paragraphs is referring to a different situation.

Consciousness Enhanced Method:

Whereas the above-noted analysis methods general theory deals primarilywith the theory that underlies the way that participants processinformation and can convey it to their conscious mind, a method ofenhancement that is particularly novel to this invention lies in thelarge bodies of empirical data which suggest that some elements of thesubconscious and unconscious mind is capable of influencing the outputof random event generator devices using a mechanism that can not easilybe explained by contemporary science.

As described above, the present inventor(s) and researchers at certainlabs such as, e.g., the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research lab atPrinceton University, have found that the deeper intentions andemotional states of users can cause a random event generator to producean output which deviates from its chance behavior. For example whenparticipants in an experiment partake in a group situation that makesthem feel “resonant” or connected to other people, the device showsindications of extra-chance behavior. Strong emotional reactions canalso cause such deviations, and in a number proprietary situations wehave shown that individuals are able to use the output of the device tocue them into pieces of information that they should pay additionalattention to.

In light of this, the process and method described in VI.A can besignificantly enhanced under the appropriate psychological andsubjective conditions by using an analysis method that correlates“significance” in the output of the random event generator with the datataken in the prior experiment. Specifically, the analyst looks at theresponses to particular questions or happenings in the experiment andchecks to see if the quantitative output of the random event generatorshows indications of non-randomness. If such a deviation is found, anappropriate weighting statistic is used, in a method similar to that ofan expert analyzer who is taking mood into account. For example, ifthere are a total of five guesses or estimates made by a person, eachguess might have a weight of ⅕^(th) in naïve weighting. Using the REGoutput, however, we might find significant deviations during two of theguesses, and assign each of these a weight of 2/7 and weight the other 3guesses at 1/7 each.

In such an analysis, the particular quantitative method of detectingsuch deviations does not appear to be extremely important except in thatit should look for some reduction of entropy or randomness in thephysical process. In a preferred embodiment, we look at segments ofrandom event generator data as the user is entering his or her commentsand see if there is any indication that the elemental binary probabilityof the random event generator has shifted away from its expectationoutput of P=0.500 using a standard Z-test.

This test is often automated by the computer, and the analyst is able toview a graphical display which provides a “replay” of the survey dataentered by the user, which is then shown in sync with a cumulativedeviation graph of the REG-output. Segments with exceptional Z-Scoresare highlighted in a marker color, and the analyst has the ability toclick on the segment for more details and, in some cases, to search theexperimental data base of other participants to see if any othersignificant data correlates with similar keywords. (For example; we mayfind significant outputs corresponding to one participant's entriesinvolving the words “interest rates” and “debentures” in which caseother data would be mined.)

Countless other forms of such analysis can be performed across the datain a standard data-mining sense, but the critical point is that whenstatistically significant results are realized, they are flagged aspotentially extraordinary and followed up on in a way that isappropriate to the particular experiment. (As an example; a psychologistadministering this survey may find recurring significant patterns when aperson answers questions about their family; this would be a strongindication that the psychologist should delve further into issuesrelating to the participant's family.)

Based on these findings, the analyst might decide to interview otherswho were surveyed who made similar comments, create a new set ofquestions to look into, and/or modify the original estimates that cameout of the non-enhanced experiment. This can be particularly useful inidentifying which questions should be targeted when there are limitedresource available.

Analysis Algorithms:

To date, we find that the specific nature of algorithms or methods usedto employ the random generator data is less important than the fact thatthe analyst be looking for deviations from chance behavior thatcorrelate with meaningful pieces of information in the real-time dataprocess.

When this document refers to “significance” regarding the output of therandom event generator enhanced elements of this process, it can meanany combination of statistical significance based on a test of therandom event generator data in question relative to its chanceexpectations, or significance in the sense that the analyzer attributesa particular meaning to those outcomes.

Extended Applications:

A very similar process to the above may be used to one's benefit bysubstituting the electronic survey process with a personal interview orin a group meeting. In such a situation, the experimenter or analystcould make notes about the questions and issues which arise during themeeting and utilize their random event generator with a program such asthe Psyleron FieldREG and then conduct an analysis such as thosedescribed above wherein recorded subjective events are correlated withthe random event generator output.

Additional Inputs:

The system need not be limited only to the input of a random eventgenerator device. A benefit of the random event generator device is thatit works in an unobtrusive way and seems to be particularly capable ofdetecting useful information when the experiments and analysis areconducted by skilled observers. In situations where it is possible tohave greater access to participants, biofeedback systems incorporatedEEG, Galvanic Skin Resistance, and Heart Rate Variability may addadditional useful information to be correlated with the REG output.

7. Embodiment Set “VII” A Method for Measuring InterpersonalInteractions and Interpreting their Qualities for the Purpose ofEnhancing Business and Personal Activities with the Aid of a RandomEvent Generator

Overview:

A portable device, which contains an internal true random bit generator,physical sensors such as a microphone or pushbutton to trigger thebeginning and end of a data collection segment, and a mechanism forstoring data and transmitting it to a PC or server, is used for thepurpose of gauging individual interactions. Prior filings of theinventor as well as publications cited by the inventor as prior artdescribe the broader theory of operation and design behind the device.This document describes additional uses and benefits of the invention inbusiness and personal applications, applies it in a context appropriatefor businesses and large organizations, introduces further means fordetermining the meaning of output data, and describes an optimal deviceand user configuration for collecting data with these purposes in mind.

For reference, some notable aspects of the preferred embodiments in thissection involve that data could be processed to produce outputs whichprovide feedbacks on some subjective scale with terms (e.g. “Resonant”)for the purpose of, e.g., helping someone to do something, such as,e.g., in business. In some preferred embodiments, a plurality ormultitude of people could carry these devices around, an their data canbe sent to a server, combined with other data, and processed in a numberof ways—both real time and not real time.

Technical Advantage:

Voice Recognized Segmenting.

This version of the device, which is meant or passive data collection inreal-life situations, incorporates a microphone and readily known speechrecognition software and techniques to distinguish between communicationcoming from its users and the outside environment. When the device hearsthat a conversation or interaction has been initiated by its carrier oranother person, it begins to sample data from the random event generatordevice and to put it into a new data segment. Using an algorithm tocount periods of silence, it determines when the conversation is overand A) Stores the recorded data on an internal memory chip, and/or B)Sends it back to a local server using wireless networking technology.

Central Server Repository and Data Integration.

Whereas other uses of the device have generally involved sending theirdata back to a single PC for storage and analysis on the hard drive;this version of the device incorporates wireless networking technologyand software infrastructure to facilitate the use of integrating datafrom the devices into a larger system for the purpose of data-mining. Inthe simplest embodiment, separate devices being carried by separateindividuals all transmit their data, in real-time, to a single wirelessreceiver/server appliance specifically designed to capture, store,differentiate, and time-stamp the data so that it may be accessed bycomputer systems on a network.

Interpreted Output.

A major disadvantage that confronts users who attempt to correlate theoutput of a random event generator with personal happenings is aninability to know how to interpret the data that comes from theirdevices. While this is a rich area of exploration that should not belimited to the methods described in this document, the use of ourinvention involves assigning pre-defined meaning to the data generatedby the device. Our present use involves three variations of output;Resonant, Chance/Neutral, and Mundane/Depressed. Each of thesedistinctions carries with it connotations about the nature of theempirical data generated, its graphical representation, and how itshould be interpreted by users of our method.

Basic Output Interpretations:

“Resonant.”

“Resonant” data is output produced by the device when it appears thatsomething is happening in the environment and is represented by the somefeedback mechanism as a large, growing, ordered, or harmonious deviationfrom the standard output. In the context of classic FieldREGexperiments, this would be an almost monotonically increasing ordecreasing cumulative deviation from chance behavior (in either mean orvariance) as data is collected with time. Regardless of whichstatistical calculations and representations are used, be they theoriginal method and feedback or another, in this use “resonance” will berepresented in a consistent way in the output data and taken to meanthat there is a heightened state of emotional interaction and/or“connection” apparent in the interpersonal interaction of the user.Depending on the environment in which the device is being used, it canbe an indication of excitement, enthusiasm, interest, empatheticfeelings, or emotional closeness.

“Chance/Neutral.”

“Chance” data output is produced by the device when there appears to beno influence due to the emotional environment or forces. In the classicexperimental methodology where data is collected in multiple bit trialsand summed together, this data would show no indication of significantdeviations in mean or variance from what a balanced bit generator shouldproduce according to theory. Regardless of the exact calculations andrepresentations used, in this case “chance” will be represented in aneutral way; such as given the number 0 on a scale from −10 to 10, orshown as a flat line. It should be interpreted as meaning that aconnection was not measured; but not taken to mean that one did notexist. It provides the least information of each of the threecategories.

“Depressed/Mundane.”

“Depressed” data output is produced by the device when it would appearthat there is an influence on the data but that influence is actuallycreating less variability in the output of the device, and it isrepresented graphically as some form of suppression relative to theother outputs. In the classic experimental methodology, this data wouldbe completely non-significant from the standpoint of showing a robustdeviation from chance in the mean, but would have implications that thedata is behaving in a nonchance vis-á-vis a suppressed variance orchi-squared on the data. For our use, regardless of the exactcalculations and methods used, “depressed” will be represented in anegative way, such as given a score of −5 on a scale of −10 to 10, orshown as a line that exists below the origin. Evidence of this type ofdata seems to emerge in situations where people are bored, drained, orremoved from one another. Unless other mined data shows a correlationbetween this measure and success for some individuals in the relevantcontext, this outcome would likely be considered unfavorable insituations that are meant to involve excitement, enthusiasm, orcloseness.

Uses:

The information which is generated by the device, be it uploaded from asingle device via a direct connection to a PC, which transmits that datato a data integration server in some automatic or manual way, orwirelessly sent to a repository in real-time, is used as an additionalset of empirical and quantitative data points for the purpose of makingjudgments about the interpersonal interactions of the person carryingthe device.

As an example, a chain of retail stores might provide the devices totheir sales people as an additional measure of the quality ofinteraction between the sales people and their customers. As describedin a prior provisional filing (#60986954), an excess of order in therandom bits, as measured by localized deviations from their expectationoutcome, is taken as an indication of “resonance” in the inter-personalinteraction, which studies indicate may be indicative of a deeper formof communication and interaction. An excess of order which results intoo close a fit to chance may be viewed as indication of formal, rigid,logical, and “disconnected” interaction in the social dynamic.

This information can be used to reward employees, to determine the bestpractices for customer interaction (by exploring and encouraging otheremployees to model the behaviors of those who most often havesignificant results and the best sales), and for the purpose ofproviding additional feedback and training to staff members so that theylearn to create more directed social interactions. In some instanceswhere it would be desirable, such as in an early childhood learningenvironment, in the practice of medicine or counseling, or in anentertainment venue, employees could be trained to enhance their levelof emotional resonance with other participants. In other venues, such aswhen a passive observer enters a classroom or another situation whichinvolves detachment, employees or users could be trained to do theopposite (e.g be detached, removed, and unaffected and unlikely toaffect others in the environment.). The device and its feedback bothdrives and supplements this training, as it provides objective andquantitative feedback which has thus far not been provided in similarsituations.

This document specifically highlights the value of the devices when usedin a corporate context, (and/or) integrated with other data, (and/or)interpreted and analyzed across many users to develop best practices,but this should not be construed as a way of precluding the productiveuse of the invention by individuals who are not operating as part of abroader context.

As an example, an individual person may wish to use the device andsystem to gauge the quality and nature of their interaction with othersby tracking the types of results (resonant, neutral, or removed) thatare obtained when interacting with different individuals in differentcontexts in their lives. They might learn that their interaction with aparticular co-worker is resonant when certain topics are broached, orthat their interactions with another always seem to provide depressedresults. Reflection and exploration into these topics can be of greatpragmatic value to the user.

In a professional context, the device can also be used by the person forthe purpose of learning more about their performance at a future date,and extracting information that is relevant to their goal. For example,during a sales pitch of three particular advertising models to a clientat a P.R. firm, the presenter might reinforce his “hunch” that theclients prefer product B over the rest by finding strong indications ofresonance in her data during that portion of the pitch. This has manybenefits, but can be particularly useful on honing in on what ispreferred by a client and quickly closing a deal.

Other Notes and Distinctions:

User Configuration is Relevant:

Whereas other FieldREG applications have often been concerned with,e.g., measuring a “group dynamic,” it should be noted that thisparticular use according to the preferred embodiments herein emphasizesan individual user carrying the device to measure his or herinteractions in a way that is particularly relevant to his/herself orhis/her goals. In the preferred embodiments, when the portion of thedocument talks about aggregate data collection in a data mining context,it is the aggregation of the data of multiple individual agents withtheir own individual devices and contexts, which is different from thegeneral observation of a group dynamic that is often involved in, e.g.,some other embodiments.

This distinction is particularly relevant in light of findings thatmultiple devices “owned” (e.g. carried by, related to, or observed by)by multiple individual operators may behave much differently thanmultiple devices being affected by multiple individuals (with no“ownership”), or multiple individuals interacting with a single device.Each of these configurations has their own particular rules andbenefits; but, it is noted in this portion of this document that theconfiguration of one or more devices to one individual is particularlyrelevant and best suited for the purpose of gauging interpersonalinteractions as stated.

Interpreted Outcomes:

Elsewhere in the physical sciences, it is often assumed that when ameasurement of a physical process is made, the specific nature of thephysical process determines the quantitative nature of that measurement.For example, the theory of operation of thermometers implies that acolumn of mercury will always obtain a certain height when the moleculesin the room are moving at a certain speed. Fifty-five degrees Celsius isalways equal to fifty-five degrees Celsius regardless of who makes themeasurement, what their understanding of the apparatus is, and what kindof feedback they are provided with.

Many of our novel empirical findings, and indeed one of the mostnoteworthy premises of some of the embodiments of the inventions hereinand their uses, is that the data generated by a random physical devicedue to the influence of an interpersonal dynamic and/or other paranormalphenomenon does not appear to follow the same rules as the temperaturemeasuring apparatus. When we talk about a change in variance (or anyother statistical parameter) as being indicative of a particular type ofresult or meaning, the fact that the users have an expectation about thedata and how it should be interpreted appears to play at least asimportant of a role in how the data comes out as does any other variablein the physical and interpersonal environment itself.

As such, our creation of categories such as resonant, neutral, anddepressed (as well as any other categories that can be selected by thosein the art based on this disclosure) are meant to serve as an example ofhow such categories can be constructed using exclusive statistical testsand consistent feedbacks, and it should not be construed as anincidental or irrelevant part of the invention. In fact, providing theusers with any such consistent paradigm for interpreting the data hasthus far been shown to be, by far, one of the best practices forensuring the quality of such results; and, almost all prior researchers,experimenters, and inventors that we know of in this field haveneglected this finding and instead chosen to focus on physical variablessuch as noise source type, bit-rate, known physical characteristics ofthe environment (e.g. temperature, electromagnetic field strength, colorof walls, number of objects, internal décor, etc.), and advanced orirregular statistical analysis methods.

8. Embodiment Set “VIII” Other Embodiments, Variations and Modifications

Although a variety of embodiments have been described herein above, withsome variations between embodiments, it is contemplated that featuresdescribed in relation to particular embodiments can readily be employedinto or along with any other of the embodiments described herein,whenever theoretically feasible. By way of example, some of thefunctionality of the device described in relation to illustrativeon-line embodiments described herein can be readily employed within adevice that is used in a stand-alone fashion or that does notcommunicate remotely or online. For example, in relation to the onlineembodiments, examples were given as to embodiments wherein messages canbe transmitted to users with such a system. In some other embodiments, astandalone device can be readily programmed to provide similar messages,whether via email, text message (e.g., when integrated in a device thatalso provides such services, such as, e.g., a PDA, cell phone or thelike) to a user.

Further to this latter described device, the present invention can,thus, be used to create a highly intriguing 8-ball type of device orgame by which messages can be presented to users. These messages couldbe transmitted at random times in some embodiments. However, in otherembodiments, these messages could be caused to be transmitted uponrequest (e.g., pressing a button or the like), with the randomnessrelating to a selection of a particular statement or the like from alist of statements. In some embodiments, the device can even havepre-recorded statements such that it will a) answer questions inputtedorally in a manner similar to an 8-ball is used and/or b) offer commentson its own a random times. In this manner, the device can create ahighly involved 8-ball, that, e.g., not only answers questions, but thatactually offers statements from time to time on its own. In someembodiments, statements that are offered can be of a slightly differentformat, such as, e.g., to provide comments regarding the whether or theenvironment or one's state of mind (e.g., observational statements,reminders or the like), while statements made upon an initiated requestcould be of another format (e.g., providing yes or no answers, reasonswhy one should or should not consider asking a question, affirmationregarding a question, or the like).

While the present invention provides various highly research-focused andscientific embodiments, some of the most advantageous embodiments of theinvention pertain to the manner in which novel and unique devices can becreated that users will come to believe or wonder about whether or notthe device has some tie to a paranormal or supernatural force by whichit functions. As such, it can not only provide greatly improved 8-balltype embodiments as described above, but also other types of similarembodiments, such as, e.g.:

-   -   a) As a fortune teller (e.g., a small device could perhaps even        be mass produced and passed out at Chinese restaurants to        provide fortunes to patrons—similar to the fortune in a cookie        method.    -   b) As an Ouija-board type of game in which the device is used to        seek to act as a conduit to communicate with the deceased, e.g.,        providing random statements in response to inquiries of this        nature.    -   c) As a kind of modern mood ring or mood device, in which the        device presents comments, colors, hues, songs, sounds, voices        and/or other outputs that are correlated to the user as relating        to mood or the like.

In addition, a device can also readily have a plurality ofuser-selectable settings, such as, e.g., a) Ouija-board (presentingstatements that are believed by users to perhaps originate from aparanormal entity or state), b) 8-Ball (choosing the right yes or noaction), c) Match Maker (choosing the right woman), d) Reminder or Alertmode (e.g., which can be similar to embodiments described above).

While illustrative embodiments of the invention have been describedherein, the present invention is not limited to the various preferredembodiments described herein, but includes any and all embodimentshaving equivalent elements, modifications, omissions, combinations(e.g., of aspects across various embodiments), adaptations and/oralterations as would be appreciated by those in the art based on thepresent disclosure. The limitations in the claims (e.g., including thatto be later added) are to be interpreted broadly based on the languageemployed in the claims and not limited to examples described in thepresent specification or during the prosecution of the application,which examples are to be construed as non-exclusive. For example, in thepresent disclosure, the term “preferably” is non-exclusive and means“preferably, but not limited to.” In this disclosure and during theprosecution of this application, means-plus-function orstep-plus-function limitations will only be employed where for aspecific claim limitation all of the following conditions are present inthat limitation: a) “means for” or “step for” is expressly recited; b) acorresponding function is expressly recited; and c) structure, materialor acts that support that structure are not recited. In this disclosureand during the prosecution of this application, the terminology “presentinvention” or “invention” may be used as a reference to one or moreaspect within the present disclosure. The language of the presentinvention or inventions should not be improperly interpreted as anidentification of criticality, should not be improperly interpreted asapplying across all aspects or embodiments (i.e., it should beunderstood that the present invention has a number of aspects andembodiments), and should not be improperly interpreted as limiting thescope of the application or claims. In this disclosure and during theprosecution of this application, the terminology “embodiment” can beused to describe any aspect, feature, process or step, any combinationthereof, and/or any portion thereof, etc. In some examples, variousembodiments may include overlapping features. In this disclosure, thefollowing abbreviated terminology may be employed: “e.g.” which means“for example”.

1. A method of monitoring a series of true random numbers, said methodcomposing: using a hardware device to produce an analog noise signal, toconverting said analog noise signal to a true random sequence ofsignals, and to carry out monitoring of said true random sequence ofsignals for anomalies along with evaluation of said anomalies inrelation to one or more time-based events or occurrences.
 2. The methodof claim 1, further comprising the step of monitoring said sequence ofsignals for deviations from true random sequences, and for the timeperiod of said deviations, comparing said time period of said deviationswith events during said time periods.
 3. The method of claim 2, furthercomprising the step of correlating said deviations with interpersonalhappenings.
 4. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step ofcorrelating said deviations with interpersonal happenings in real time.5. The method of claim 2, where the output of the device is used to makebusiness decisions.
 6. The method of claim 2, where the output of thedevice is used to help gauge the performance of individuals.
 7. Themethod of claim 2, where the output of the device is used to measurewhether individuals in a group are in agreement with one another, “onthe same page,” “resonant,” or “coherent.”
 8. The method of claim 2,where users are able to enter textual, audio, or visual input into thedevice to describe the subjective nature of the event being recorded.9-10. (canceled)
 11. A portable device, wherein said device isconfigured to provide a notification or reminder to the user at timeswhich can not be predicted.
 12. The device of claim 11, where the timingof the events is driven by a random physical process.
 13. The device ofclaim 12, wherein said random physical process comprises quantum varyingphenomena, such as, for example, Johnson noise, Quantum Tunneling,and/or Photon Scattering.
 14. A device of claim 11 or 12, wherein saiddevice is configured to perform the step of calculating to comparesampled randomness to its theoretical expectation for the purpose ofaltering the time at which a reminder event is triggered.
 15. The deviceof claim 11, wherein said device is configured to provide a reminder tothe user at times which can not be predicted but are psychologicallymeaningful.
 16. The device of claim 11, wherein the reminder contains amessage.
 17. The device of claim 11, wherein the reminder contains arandomly selected message.
 18. The device of claim 16 or 17, wherein thereminder contains a randomly selected message that comes from a body ofmessages entered by the user or user(s) at some earlier point in time.19-62. (canceled)
 63. A device which uses the output of a fundamentallyrandom process for the purpose of changing the color or state of aphysical apparatus.
 64. A device of claim 63, wherein the physicalapparatus changes its color or state based on the output of one or morelight emitting diodes.
 65. A device of claim 64, wherein the output ofthe light emitting diodes is blended together to form colors which aredifferent from the color of any individual light emitting diode. 66-91.(canceled)